Hans Fallada tells in his published after the war novel "The drinker" the story of the agricultural wholesaler Erwin Sommer, who flees from his narrow bourgeois relations under the burdens of the new times in the kingdom of the king alcohol, whose liberty and independence promises prove a lie - the only truth of the alcohol. On behalf of the WDR television play Ulrich Plenzdorf has adapted Fallada's 1944/45 novel for a film adaptation by Tom Toelle with Harald Juhnke in the main role of Erwin Sommer.
Acting
Juhnke's own demons lending devastating authenticity to every tremor.
Production
Gritty 1940s Germany recreated with oppressive, shrinking domestic spaces.
Director
Tom Toelle
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Fallada wrote this novel in 1944 while imprisoned in a Nazi insane asylum for his 'degenerate' politics; the manuscript was buried and only published posthumously in 1950.
Juhnke, Germany's most famous entertainer, was himself battling alcoholism during filming—he reportedly couldn't watch the final cut without weeping.
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