Charlie Kaufman, Terry Pratchett, and Jasper Fforde are waving from afar: in her thesis film THE ORDINARIES, Sophie Linnenbaum creates a fictional world with unconventional rules. All of society is structured by film terms. At the very top of the pyramid are the “main characters,“ who get complex storylines, have feelings, and create their own emotional music. Paula‘s best friend Hannah (Sira-Anna Faal) and her upper class family even converse in musical numbers. Paula (Fine Sendel), on the other hand, is nervous before her final exam as a protagonist. Her father, who allegedly died during the “massacre,“ was a protagonist. Her mother, however, only has a limited repertoire as a “supporting character“ and Paula herself is having difficulties with the production. Way down in the hierarchy are the outtakes, the miscast, and the film mistakes that live on the margins of society and produce background noises in sound factories. This is the world Paula ventures forward in when she starts searching for her father and discovers that things aren‘t quite as they seem.

THE ORDINARIES manages to create its own believable world with what is probably a far too small budget, a kind of retro sci fi GDR with holograms, passport control, flared skirts and its own color concept for each social class. The details are very creative, there‘s young Simon (Noah Tinwa), who is plagued by jump cuts and keeps appearing in different places in the film and speaks in cut off sentences, or the bartender whose lines are always accompanied by audience applause. The supporting characters with their cut-out background design keep repeating the same lines. Not everything is logical and well thought out, the film doesn‘t always keep to its own rules (for example, Simon does speak in continuous sentences when it‘s important to understand him), and the lively simultaneity of new ideas cause Linnenbaum to miss the chance to properly develop the themes she tackles, There is so much to it: the privilege of the upper class to manipulate and have emotions and music. Everyone‘s fear of slipping off the frame. Life as pure performance.

Sophie Linnenbaum has won numerous awards for young talent, among them the “ Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino“ at the Munich Film Festival. She is currently working on a TV show, which we‘re curious about.

Hendrike Bake (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy