The Audition
Nina Hoss gives her finest performance yet in a rewardingly original work about a violin teacher who becomes obsessed with a young student.
Nina Hoss
Only the second feature to be made by the German director Ina Weisse, better known so far for her acting, The Audition is a work that takes on a character which is all its own. For that very reason it may well not appeal to all audiences, but I found it not only strikingly original but unusually haunting. Written by Daphne Charizani and the director herself, this is a piece which is in a key sense observational. Instead of asking us to identify with any of its central characters it invites us to study them and from that to formulate our own ideas regarding the factors which, consciously or unconsciously, motivate them. If interpretation is largely left to the viewer, the background is rendered with absolute clarity and conviction. The story is set in contemporary Berlin and focuses on the life of Anna Bronsky who now teaches violin in one of the city’s conservatories. Quite as persuasive as the film’s portrait of the world of classical music (one with which Ina Weisse is indeed familiar) is the performance of Nina Hoss in this central role. She lives the part and we absolutely believe in her even if viewers then have to consider for themselves what it is that is driving Anna.
The Audition could easily but misleadingly be described in terms that make it sound like standard fare of the kind aimed at fans of classical music. At the outset Anna champions a young applicant, Alexander Paraskevas (Ilja Monti), despite colleagues having doubts as to his promise. She takes him on as her pupil coaching him for the audition which will settle his future. Anna had previously been a concert violinist herself and, having given up for health reasons, is now being encouraged to play with colleagues including cellist Christian Weis (Jens Albinus) in a string quintet. There are other musical connections too since Anna's French husband, Philippe (Simon Abkarian), restores instruments and the couple have a 10-year-old son, Jonas (Serafin Mishiev), who plays the violin himself and is being forced by his mother to make this central to his life.
It’s no surprise then that we get to hear many snippets of music with J.S. Bach a special focus but with contributions from Brahms and Max Bruch too. Yet The Audition is not the kind of respectable, sentimental drama that all of this might will lead you to expect. Instead, at heart it is a psychological study of Anna. She has been more intent than Philippe in pushing their son towards a musical career (dad holds back and responds to other interests that Jonas has including woodwork). Anna persistently drives Alexander onward and, while helping the boy to realise his talent, pressurises him in the process. Is she acting entirely in his best interests or is she using him as a kind of substitute, creating in him somebody who will have the career that was denied to her? Furthermore, to what extent may Anna be acting at the mercy of obsessive compulsive disorder or something akin to it? Whatever the case, becoming obsessive over Alexander and his audition causes her to neglect her family and we realise that Jonas is becoming jealous of Alexander who is getting more attention than he is. Anna also seems to be in need of the kind of emotional support that Christian may be able to provide whereas Philippe, despite being devoted to her, is not a man readily able to help since he is not good at expressing his feelings overtly.
Nina Hoss has never been better and the whole cast including Monti and Mishiev are entirely convincing. Weisse wisely limits the music we hear to the extracts that feature as part of the story rather than having a music score and, aided by her editor, she delivers a film which holds one firmly throughout. We often get short scenes that leave us considering their significance and then cause us to look back to ponder their place in building towards the film’s unexpected denouement. Indeed, at the close I felt that I would willingly view The Audition again to pick out any pointers that I had missed. There might not be any, but either way the film has already cast its spell on me. The experience of being required to draw my own conclusions about Anna and her family left me feeling fully satisfied even if I do recognise that others might react differently.
Original title: Das Vorspiel.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Nina Hoss, Simon Abkarian, Jens Albinus, Ilja Monti, Serafin Mishiev, Sophie Rois, Ruth Bickelhaupt, Thomas Thieke, Winnie Böwe, Thorsten Merten, Alexander Hörbe, Hildegard Schmahl.
Dir Ina Weisse, Pro Pierre-Olivier Bardot and Felix von Böhm, Screenplay Ina Weisse and Daphne Charizani, Ph Judith Haufouan, Pro Des Susanne Hopf, Ed Hansjörg Weißbrich, Costumes Petra Kray.
Idéale Audience/Lupa Film/Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion-New Wave Films.
99 mins. Germany/France. 2019. UK Rel: 1 April 2022. Cert. 15.