Fernsehfilme I

Are they simply chasing their dreams? Or do they, unlike most people, have a particularly stubborn belief in true happiness? And where can this happiness be found? In Die letzten Männer and Spass ohne Grenzen, very ordinary people appear in front of Seidl’s camera to talk about their dreams, expectations and frustrations.

It turns out that many European men are looking for a women who still fit into the traditional husband/wife role pattern. Men like the Austrians Seidl places within the rigidly defined frame of his camera. Men who hope to find an ideal mail-order bride from a catalogue of Pilipino or Thai candidates – although it doesn’t turn out like that in reality.

You could perhaps make the best of a not-so-cheerful reality by immersing yourself in the culture of the amusement park – part of what in German is so aptly called the ‘Unterhaltungsindustrie’ (amusement industry).

Like Ms Spohler-Claussen from Hannover. She eagerly shows Seidl and his crew every nook and cranny of Baden-Württemberg’s Europapark – the biggest amusement park in Germany – where everyone wears a permanent smile, except for the employees.

Tragicomic reality

For his cringingly, forcibly stylised documentaries and fiction films – Seidl is not a fan of this distinction – the filmmaker has often been accused of mocking his protagonists by showing them, without their realising this, in all their smallness or ridiculousness.

In his films, Seidl views reality as he observes this through the eyes of his characters. The tone of much of his work is hard, tragicomic – but certainly not without feeling. Ultimately, the filmmaker himself makes up part of the reality of the protagonists of his films – people who have the daring to give concrete form to their hidden desires and obsessions, however absurd this may seem.