Ich bin ein Elefant, Madame (1969)

Director:

Peter Zadek

Writers:

Wolfgang Menge (writer)
Robert Muller (writer)

Release Date:

6 March 1969 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Politics | Parliament | Ex Nazi | Swastika | Student

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Heinz Baumann	...	Dr. Nemitz
Wolfgang Schneider	...	Rull - schoolboy
Guido Baumann	...	Interviewer
Margot Trooger	...	Mrs. Nemitz
Günther Lüders	...	Dr. Hartmann
Tankred Dorst	...	Violat
Peter Palitzsch	...	Fiege
Rolf Becker	...	Rohwedder
Werner Dahms	...	Wieland
Robert Dietl	...	Mueller-Frank
Maja Eigen	...	Billa - schoolgirl
Ilja Richter	...	Haverkamp - schoolboy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rudolf Jürgen Bartsch	...	Billa's father
Hans-Walter Clasen	...	Rull's father (as Hans W. Clasen)
Helmut Erfurth	...	Beckmann
Georg M. Fischer	...	Satemin - schoolboy (as Georg-Michael Fischer)
Max Gaede
Rene Geiger	...	Robert
Heinrich Giskes	...	Kurafeiski - schoolboy
Rita Graun	...	Mrs. Schneider
Gerhard Hartig	...	Adler's father
Gudrun Herms	...	Gisela - schoolgirl
Axel Heydekamp	...	Heydekamp - schoolboy
B. Holland-Moritz
Kurt Hübner	...	Mr. Satemin
Maren Huebner	...	Ulrike - schoolgirl
Brigitte Janner	...	Diane
Jasper Kausche
Norbert Kollakowsky	...	Koch - schoolboy
Annelore Kunze	...	Rull's mother
Manfred Meihoefer	...	Adler - schoolboy
Christine Philip	...	Ms. Hansen
Ingrid Resch	...	Ms. Winter
Ernst Rottluff	...	Nentwich
Andreas Seyferth	...	Petri - schoolboy
Doris Talpay	...	Barbara - schoolgirl
Nicolas Topp
Reinhard von Hacht	...	Hübner - schoolboy
Dora Wolff	...	Ms. Chrobock

Also Known As:

I'm an Elephant, Madame (UK)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (f) | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Bremen, Germany

Company:

Iduna Film Produktiongesellschaft

Fascinating reflection of its time

This comedy drama is a fascinating reflection of its time - its changing values and attitudes, how society reacted to it, how different individuals managed to adapt. The genre description "comedy drama" is not entirely accurate, but it's the closest I could think of. There is no drama/comedy plot in the usual sense. We follow a class of students in their last year at school (6th form is the nearest UK equivalent), their lessons, their protests, their private life. There are a few occasions when the film drifts from realism beyond wackiness into surrealism, and surprisingly Margot Trooger is one of the director's favourite vehicles for that.

The end product lacks some coherence, but it is full of strong and telling moments. The way Dr Nemitz elegantly rebuffs a classroom revolt, the English teacher discovered as a lightweight, Rowedder parking his jeep (complete with communist flag) directly in front of a no-stopping sign - these are just a few of many memorable scenes.

I think of the film with considerable personal fondness: it was filmed at (and in) Altes Gymnasium Bremen, the very school I went to three years after this film was made. The style of the lessons portrayed in the film so accurately reflected the particular (and admittedly somewhat peculiar) style prevalent at this school that Zadek either must have watched real classes at the AG beforehand or used teachers and students from this school as advisors, if not both. There is evidence for the latter: I can assert that the dispute which students are allowed to go to the baker's shop (and when) was still going on for years to come.