Anne-Sophie Mutter

VIVACE

  • photo by Monika Höfler

Anne-Sophie Mutter is recognized as one of the world's finest violinists.  Since the child prodigy from Wehr in the Black Forest, Germany, was discovered and promoted by Herbert von Karajan in 1976, she has been filling the world's largest concert houses.  As she nears her 60th birthday (in June 2023), this documentary film reveals unknown aspects of the artist.

"If you want to get to know about me, you have to experience me on stage," says Anne-Sophie Mutter.  She doesn't care for questions about her private life and if one innocently questions her about her stunning evening gowns, she closes herself off completely.  How to portray a woman like this?

Filmmaker Sigrid Faltin suspected that if she could get the artist into an unusual ambiance for a discussion, that she might well open up.  When asked whom she would like as a discussion partner, Miss Mutter spontaneously said: Tennis star Roger Federer.  She also named the New Yorker magician Steve Cohen, her music friends Daniel Barenboim, John Williams, Jörg Widmann, and her long-time piano accompanist Lambert Orkis.  In her exchanges with these men (women did not really occur to her) she says in the film why she identifies with top athletes, how she acquired her concert gowns, and why she regrets having given up playing the piano.  For the first time she talks extensively about the early death of her husband and her life as a single mother, all the while managing a breathtaking worldwide career.

And then the artist agrees to a long hike with the filmmaker at the Wilden Kaiser, Austria, that is nearly cancelled. The film contains enough material to experience Anne-Sophie Mutter not only as a musician, but also as a sporty and vibrant, politically and socially active woman.  Charming archive scenes from five decades complete this humorous and extraordinary film about one of the greatest musicians of our time.

First broadcast

now online

Produced by

SWR

world sales Naxos Audiovisual

A film by

Sigrid Faltin

Year

2023

Running time

90 min.

Team

cinematography: Jürgen Carle

sound: Michael Kirn

editing: Petra Hölge

artwork: Edith Schwörer


Awards

Toronto International Women Film Festival 2023 (Nominee)

Miami Women Film Festival 2023

Golden Prague Festival 2023 (Nominee)

Berlin Women Cinema Fest 2023 (Honorable Mention)

New York International Women Festival 2023 (Semi-Finalist)

Chicago Women Film Festival 2023 (Award Best Documentary)

San Jose Independent Film Festival Dezember 2023 (Semi-Finalist)

Tokyo International Cinema Award 2023 (Nominee)

Cannes Arts Film Fest 2024 (Award Best Documentary Feature Film)

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Sigrid Faltin, white pepper films

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