Nobody Loves Me (1994) Keiner liebt mich (original title)

Director:

Doris Dörrie

Writers:

Doris Dörrie (screenplay)
Doris Dörrie (short story)

Release Date:

12 January 1995 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

On the brink of her 30th birthday, Fanny feels the door to marital happiness closing up on her. She is obsessed with death...

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Homosexual | Bath

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Maria Schrader	...	Fanny Fink
Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss	...	Orfeo de Altamar
Michael von Au	...	Lothar Sticker
Elisabeth Trissenaar	...	Madeleine
Ingo Naujoks	...	Lasse Laengsfeld
Joachim Król	...	Anton
Peggy Parnass	...	Frau Radebrecht
Lorose Keller	...	Zsa Zsa
Anya Hoffmann	...	Charlotte
Erwin Grosche	...	Herr Kokkinos
Roland Kabelitz	...	Herr Findeis
Steffen Gräbner	...	Benno Kuegler
Oliver Nägele	...	Herr Froh
Ute Maria Lerner	...	Sevgi
Laura Medinger	...	Lisa
Stefan Gebelhoff	...	Junger Mann Cafe (Young man at coffee shop)
Birgit Stein	...	Geliebte 1 (Lover #1)
Gruschenka Stevens	...	Geliebte 2 (Lover #2)
Claudia Matschulla	...	Geschaeftsfrau (Business woman)
Ömer Simsek	...	Bankangestellter (Bank employee)
Ruth Brück	...	Aeltere Frau (Old woman)
Karin Johnson	...	Bedienung (Waitress)
Klaus Koehler	...	Herbert
Peter Böhlke	...	Alter Mann Kirche / Old man at church

Directed by
Doris Dörrie

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Doris Dörrie		screenplay
Doris Dörrie		short story

Produced by
Christoph Holch	....	producer: ZDF
Gerd Huber	....	producer
Renate Seefeldt	....	producer

Original Music by
Niki Reiser

Cinematography by
Helge Weindler

Film Editing by
Inez Regnier

Casting by
An Dorthe Braker
Horst D. Scheel

Production Design by
Claus Kottmann

Art Direction by
Yvonne Hellings
Frederike von Quast

Costume Design by
Siegbert Kammerer

Makeup Department
Horst Allert	....	makeup artist
Evelyn Döhring	....	makeup artist
Ingrid Schneider	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Jens Folger	....	unit manager: second unit
Kurt Werner 'Mingo' Krusche	....	unit manager: Bavaria
Ulli Neumann	....	unit manager
Annette Oswald	....	production manager
Herbert Ruf	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ruth Stadler	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jo Hattenhauer	....	property master
Martin Küster	....	property master
Claudia Sodenburg	....	property master

Sound Department
Ursula Busse	....	sound editor
Joo Fürst	....	foley artist
Hadon Install	....	boom operator
Michael Kranz	....	sound editor
Brigitte Platzer	....	sound editor
Jörn Poetzl	....	foley artist
Thomas Strebel	....	music editor
Wolfgang Wirtz	....	sound

Special Effects by
Wolfgang Jäger	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Lutz Lemke	....	title sequence designer/animator

Camera and Electrical Department
Marta Andresz	....	gaffer
Jürgen Bauer	....	lighting technician
Britta Becker	....	first assistant camera
Robert de Decker	....	assistant second camera
Hans Gaessler	....	lighting technician
Harry Groepler	....	lighting technician
Anette Haellmigk	....	camera operator
Benjamin Hasenclever	....	second assistant camera
Jo Heim	....	second camera
Gofi Hoehn	....	lighting technician
Kerstin Stelter	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sandra Fuhr	....	wardrober
Barbara Winter	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
Ingrid Slejfir	....	post-production
Anne Wagner	....	assistant editor

Other crew
Mark A. Davis	....	choreographer
Petra Kühnast	....	continuity
Thomas Schlesinger	....	script editor
Dorothee Specht	....	production coordinator
Alexandra von Buchholz	....	production coordinator
Iris Wimmer	....	production accountant

Production Companies

• Cobra Film GmbH
• Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Distributors

• Buena Vista International (1994) (Germany) (theatrical)
• EuroVideo (2001) (Germany) (VHS)
• EuroVideo (2001) (Germany) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (Argentina) (video)
• Cinépix Film Properties (CFP) (1995) (USA) (subtitled)
• Hispano Foxfilms S.A.E. (Spain)
• Primer Plano Film Group (Argentina)

Also Known As:

"Keiner liebt mich" - Germany (original title)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-12 | Germany:12 (f) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Cobra Film GmbH

Quotes:

Fanny Fink:I wouldn't fall in love with me if I were you.

Soundtrack:

Non, je ne regrette rien

Doerrie approaches the German spirit

Pierre Sanousi-Bliss, the actor who plays Orfeo in Keiner Liebt Mich, said of his role that he thought it was symbolic of pre-Wende years, when "East Germans lived alone in a world they had created." Orfeo, enigmatic psychic and gay Black tenant, is five months behind on his rent, and facing eviction. He spends his days telling fortunes on the street, or alternately, asking for money to get "back to Africa" and his nights as a drag queen in a bar, where his white businessman boyfriend smugly watches him. It is not difficult to make a convincing case in Sanousi-Bliss' favor, as Orfeo definitely exists in his own world, steadfastly creating a space in which he alone can exist, both by nurturing himself and pushing others away. When his apartment is repossessed and he begins to cohabit with Fanny, his mysteries unearth themselves and the two learn to share and depend on one another, approaching deeper issues of bonding and appreciating the present time. Dorris Dorrie, the writer and director of the film, said that it addresses the way "Germans seem unable to be happy with what they have." When Orfeo compares his state of living to Fanny's it is painfully evident how much she has that he does not, including job, house, and the "right skin color." Within this visual difference of race however, is a more probing study of German sentiment. Indeed, Orfeo is discriminated against in Germany: his fellow tenants don't want him living there, and passersby are more likely to give him money to leave the country than to read their palm. But Dorrie is not simply addressing racial tensions through the character of Orfeo, but as noted above, he is symbolic of a greater struggle in the German people. This struggle is the same one that Fanny faces in a more direct way, to rectify her existence with her imaginary ideal life, and to learn to appreciate what is real and surrounds her. In their final moments together before Orfeo 'dies,' he shares with her the secret of never wearing a watch, because it is always the same time, Now. Interesting then, that several years later Maria Schrader, who plays Fanny, is playing a lesbian woman in the midst of WWII in Aimee & Jaguar. And her final words in that film? That she wants plenty of Now's. Not memories, not futures, but now, and now, and now. It seems there is some form of spiritual integrity emerging through the minds of German directors. For in the final cathartic moments of German films, the feel-good lines are telling us what Eastern religions of meditation and mindfulness have preached for thousands of years. I recently attended a lecture by Professor Muhammad Bamyeh about post-nationalism, which interestingly enough, made some similar conjectures about the emerging solidarities throughout the world. One of the four noted was the spiritual, in which seemingly disparate peoples are actually approaching similar coping mechanisms, reaction and movements to the trends of post-national identities and globalization. It is possible that in this small word, "now," is the seed of cross-cultural understanding. An American may see Fanny Fink's plight and view it only in terms of the desires and unrequited loves, a German may see the representation of her culture. But both can comprehend the immediacy of understanding the moment, regardless if the moment is one person's or one people's. In the ongoing spiritual dialogue of the film we are given two disparate approaches: Fanny practices 'conscious dying' while Orfeo is arguably more busy with consciously living, at least in the time he's got. But when these two meet, their common points are made stronger, drawing from the other and reaffirming the other as well.