It’s been exactly 30 years since the Berlin Wall came down so East Berliner ex-punk photographer Sven Marquardt revisits his old haunts with his former muse Dome (Dominique Hollenstein) to do another photo shoot just like the old days.
Since he settled in the West, Marquardt has carved out a fierce reputation for manning the door of Beghain the city’s most ultra-exclusive techno club. He has also written a bestselling autobiography, and has a very successful career as a photographer as evident in the first scenes of the doc which cover the packed Opening Party for his latest exhibition.
Clinging on to his youth the 57 year old has a face tattoo and multiple piercings that we guess help endorse ihs reputation as a wild man in Berlin but actually got hm barred from entering a club in Sydney for his scary appearance.
For Dome however time has almost stood still and she lives a bohemian life in part of a rambling old house that belongs to her grandparents and she eakes out a living (when she must) making handicrafts. On this her first photo shoot for decades she comes alive reminiscing about the old days, which to the outside world appeared like a prison sentence, but to her represented their chance of being free to express themselves as committed punks.
She is still incredibly beautiful and the camera loves her but there is such an overwhelming sense of sadness for the loss of the days of her wild youth which she will never ever recover from.
The film also features Robert Paris, a very close old friend of the other two, and who Marquardt had persuaded to be a model. In his youth the blonde haired blue eyed Paris was remarkably handsome and both Marquardt and Dome were in love with him. What occurred because of that was never really discussed, and neither was anyone’s sexuality, but we are left to believe it was all as free spirited as the rest of their lives back then.
Paris, now a married man whose wife lives in India, is the one who most regrets how time has spoiled Berlin which he used to photograph extensively in the old days. The effects of the ravages of war which destroyed so much, meant that in the rebuilding the city much of the beauty was lost and too speedily replaced with modern functioning buildings.
So many us our yearn for our youth, but none so determinedly as these three who desperately would love to turn the clock back, and this is what makes this film so very intriguing
Labels: 2019, Berlin, documentary
