A HOUSE IN BERLIN
Each and every film by Cynthia Beatt is like a cross between a wave swept "message in bottle" and Aladdin's lamp. This one is no exception, it's evocative, tantalising in design and it contains an inner dynamic hidden behind the narrative which is revealed like magic with a little thought.
A House in Berlin tells the story of a woman who inherits a dilapidated building in Berlin and along with it, intrigue, deception, family skeletons and a vocation.
At the start of the film, against a stormy sea backdrop we are told that the film charts the personal odyssey of the principal character, Stella. This is Jungian territory, where names are never accidental. Stella means "Star" in Latin and was first used as a personal name in the 16th Century by Sir Philip Sidney in his poem "Astrophel and Stella" which is worth quoting;
"Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show That the dear she might take some pleasure of my pain Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know Knowledge, might pity win and grace obtain"
This film's Stella is a university lecturer in English Literature and consequently she does a lot of reading, but instead of obtaining grace this has made her a prisoner of reflection because it has been done without true awareness of her inner condition, her soul, her unconscious, her Astrophel. Jung also said that when an inner factor does not become conscious, it produces itself externally in the form of destiny. Stella is also of Jewish descent, so rather like the biblical star of Bethlehem some sort of re-birth (in the Holy Land) seems to be her destiny.
Stella has two friends, both called Robert which derives from the Anglo-Saxon name Hrodebert meaning "Bright Fame" – another starry reference and they represent, psychologically, auxiliary parts of her psyche. Paired helpers (one a reflection of the other) are a common theme throughout the film.
Every odyssey has a set pattern. 1) The malaise 2) The call 3) The Journey 4) The test 5) The resolution
The call for Stella to go on her odyssey comes via a letter, which we see Stella reading in a café, with her reflection in a mirror behind. This reflection of Stella represents an unconscious neglected aspect and in films the "double" is usually the visualisation of a crises situation that is a prelude to inevitable change, its appearance always comes precisely when the desire for change is manifested Stella's journey to Berlin can be considered a journey to the underworld, a venturing into the world of shadows, of the images that populate the psyche. Stella's broken childhood is a form of shattered inwardness so this is a journey from inner fragmentation to inner reintegration. The beautiful scene of the swan on the fragmented ice correlates to this.
At the House she encounters a helpful pair of tenants, Lucas (Luke) an architect and Simon, who shed light on recent events involving the up and coming sale of the building. These biblically named disciples represent that part of a woman's unconscious psyche called the Animus, the faculty of spirit/logos. The chess game on the table represents their gifts of logical thinking.
With their help Stella realises that her shady solicitor (who represents that part of a woman's unconscious psyche called the "Shadow") is swindling her, she is determined to fight back. She seeks a second legal opinion which is provided by another pairing, this time a mother and daughter. Like Odysseus encounter with Circe & Polyphemus, Stella uses her ingenuity to outwit the corrupt solicitor. However, this does not resolve everything as the cost of renovating the dilapidated house is beyond her means financially. She is, however, led into researching Jewish\German history by yet another pair of helpers, two women recently returned from Palestine. This pair invites Stella to share their octopus salad. The octopus is a leitmotif of the unconscious and feasting upon would indicate that Stella is now in tune with it.
Finally her personal family tragedy is revealed by an old lady who has been a tenant since before the Second World War. This old lady is like the mythical Old Woman of the West who guards the entrance to the land of the dead – full of secrets and knowledge of people who have passed over. The scene where she comes to Stella's apartment in the middle of the night to deliver a vital piece of information and the background is suddenly plunged into darkness was, I have been told, unplanned and therefore a type of filmic fortuitousness Jung called Synchronicity.
In Homer's Odyssey, the ghost of Teiresias, in the land of the dead which the Greeks also called - the House of Hades, instructs Odysseus to set out again, on a mission to carry a ship's oar to a point so far in land that the people there would not recognise it as such and then Odysseus had to plant the oar in the ground, in honour of Poseidon. In Jungian terms this is the honouring of the unconscious after a mid-life crisis.
In this film, Stella, after discovering the fate not only of her own dispossessed family but also of the disposed people of Palestine finds her vocation. Like Odysseus she travels to a faraway land and bears witness to her own newly discovered truths. In doing so, she becomes the Architect of her own life.
The conclusion of the film is conveyed to us by the narrator as Stella herself has vanished from the film. She has passed through the "House of Hades" to her new Elysium, where we who have not yet transformed are not allowed to follow.
Anyone suffering from mid-life lethargy or depression can follow in Stella's footsteps if they listen to the messages and cues from the unconscious and start a dialogue with the soul.
Each and every film by Cynthia Beatt is like a cross between a wave swept "message in bottle" and Aladdin's lamp. This one is no exception, it's evocative, tantalising in design and it contains an inner dynamic hidden behind the narrative which is revealed like magic with a little thought.
A House in Berlin tells the story of a woman who inherits a dilapidated building in Berlin and along with it, intrigue, deception, family skeletons and a vocation.
At the start of the film, against a stormy sea backdrop we are told that the film charts the personal odyssey of the principal character, Stella. This is Jungian territory, where names are never accidental. Stella means "Star" in Latin and was first used as a personal name in the 16th Century by Sir Philip Sidney in his poem "Astrophel and Stella" which is worth quoting;
"Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show That the dear she might take some pleasure of my pain Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know Knowledge, might pity win and grace obtain"
This film's Stella is a university lecturer in English Literature and consequently she does a lot of reading, but instead of obtaining grace this has made her a prisoner of reflection because it has been done without true awareness of her inner condition, her soul, her unconscious, her Astrophel. Jung also said that when an inner factor does not become conscious, it produces itself externally in the form of destiny. Stella is also of Jewish descent, so rather like the biblical star of Bethlehem some sort of re-birth (in the Holy Land) seems to be her destiny.
Stella has two friends, both called Robert which derives from the Anglo-Saxon name Hrodebert meaning "Bright Fame" – another starry reference and they represent, psychologically, auxiliary parts of her psyche. Paired helpers (one a reflection of the other) are a common theme throughout the film.
Every odyssey has a set pattern. 1) The malaise 2) The call 3) The Journey 4) The test 5) The resolution
The call for Stella to go on her odyssey comes via a letter, which we see Stella reading in a café, with her reflection in a mirror behind. This reflection of Stella represents an unconscious neglected aspect and in films the "double" is usually the visualisation of a crises situation that is a prelude to inevitable change, its appearance always comes precisely when the desire for change is manifested Stella's journey to Berlin can be considered a journey to the underworld, a venturing into the world of shadows, of the images that populate the psyche. Stella's broken childhood is a form of shattered inwardness so this is a journey from inner fragmentation to inner reintegration. The beautiful scene of the swan on the fragmented ice correlates to this.
At the House she encounters a helpful pair of tenants, Lucas (Luke) an architect and Simon, who shed light on recent events involving the up and coming sale of the building. These biblically named disciples represent that part of a woman's unconscious psyche called the Animus, the faculty of spirit/logos. The chess game on the table represents their gifts of logical thinking.
With their help Stella realises that her shady solicitor (who represents that part of a woman's unconscious psyche called the "Shadow") is swindling her, she is determined to fight back. She seeks a second legal opinion which is provided by another pairing, this time a mother and daughter. Like Odysseus encounter with Circe & Polyphemus, Stella uses her ingenuity to outwit the corrupt solicitor. However, this does not resolve everything as the cost of renovating the dilapidated house is beyond her means financially. She is, however, led into researching Jewish\German history by yet another pair of helpers, two women recently returned from Palestine. This pair invites Stella to share their octopus salad. The octopus is a leitmotif of the unconscious and feasting upon would indicate that Stella is now in tune with it.
Finally her personal family tragedy is revealed by an old lady who has been a tenant since before the Second World War. This old lady is like the mythical Old Woman of the West who guards the entrance to the land of the dead – full of secrets and knowledge of people who have passed over. The scene where she comes to Stella's apartment in the middle of the night to deliver a vital piece of information and the background is suddenly plunged into darkness was, I have been told, unplanned and therefore a type of filmic fortuitousness Jung called Synchronicity.
In Homer's Odyssey, the ghost of Teiresias, in the land of the dead which the Greeks also called - the House of Hades, instructs Odysseus to set out again, on a mission to carry a ship's oar to a point so far in land that the people there would not recognise it as such and then Odysseus had to plant the oar in the ground, in honour of Poseidon. In Jungian terms this is the honouring of the unconscious after a mid-life crisis.
In this film, Stella, after discovering the fate not only of her own dispossessed family but also of the disposed people of Palestine finds her vocation. Like Odysseus she travels to a faraway land and bears witness to her own newly discovered truths. In doing so, she becomes the Architect of her own life.
The conclusion of the film is conveyed to us by the narrator as Stella herself has vanished from the film. She has passed through the "House of Hades" to her new Elysium, where we who have not yet transformed are not allowed to follow.
Anyone suffering from mid-life lethargy or depression can follow in Stella's footsteps if they listen to the messages and cues from the unconscious and start a dialogue with the soul.
