Werner Fritsch

A sketch for Faust Sonnengesang V (Africa)

In no less than 180 minutes the film showed frenzied dashes of wild colors and idyllic natural images, of wonderful music and powerful lyricism, which, among others was flawlessly recited by star actors such as Corinna Harfouch, Angela Winkler and Ulrich Matthes. The work treats of the consciousness-defining echoing thunder of modern rock music, of the rock inscriptions of the ancient Egyptians, of the Merseburg magic spells, the author’s childhood impressions, in the latter’s homeland in the forests of the Upper Palatinate, and the ghosts of the Nazi era, who today continue to haunt us in the most vivid manner.

Faust is guided by an Asian muse to seek spiritual self-awareness not in Christianity of the Western hemisphere but in Buddhism of the Far East. As he moves East he puts his experiences into written haiku verses.

Nico, born Christa Päffgen in Cologne, Germany just before the outbreak of the Second World War is one of the most mythic icons of our time. She was the supermodel who became Andy Warhol’s most notorious muse and the singer of legendary American rock band Velvet Underground. She had a troublesome love story with Jim Morrison and gave her son his first shot. She was a nomad, always on her way to Paris, London, or New York and stood in the center of the sixties’ art revolution. In "Nico – Sphinx of Ice", we are taken on a journey through the psyche of the broken and unbreakable sixties’ icon.

The second part of Fritsch’s filmic poem focuses on Europe. In the beginning, the author's tragic family history exemplifies German history in the last century. Then we see the different light in the countries of Europe, we encounter the oldest signs and hear voices that have given the continent spiritual contour.

Faust Sonnengesang III is a road movie: A traverse of the American continent, full of memories of American images, songs and literature that shape our lives from our youth. Wild West films, series, lecture impressions as well as the encounter with a Navajo shaman in Monument Valley form the background of this opulent and beguiling sound and picture noise.

The film begins at the point where Droste can no longer channel the tremendous energies within her through language. These are the poet's final hours, in which stages of her life and images of her work pass before her eyes, encounters with her beloved Levin and beloved Elise take place, and images of nature, longing, and death appear in the distorted optics of a fever dream ...