There’s a lot of research behind this stark drama about a gay man’s experiences in postwar Germany through several decades, most of the time spent in the same prison where the Nazis first locked him up. The authorities before and after the war may differ a lot, but they still punish him for the same thing: his sexuality.

There’s an infuriating irony to it, which colors the film, but it’s also a moving portrait of the kind of friendship that might arise behind the walls.

Franz Rogowski is great in the lead and the film builds up to a perfect, tragically logical final scene.

2021-Austria-Germany. 116 min. Color. Directed by Sebastian Meise. Screenplay: Thomas Reider, Sebastian Meise. Cinematography: Crystel Fournier. Music: Nils Petter Molvaer, Peter Brötzmann. Cast: Franz Rogowski (Hans Hoffmann), Georg Friedrich (Viktor Bix), Anton von Lucke (Leo Giese), Thomas Prenn, Alfred Hartung, Thomas Wehling. 

Trivia: Original title: Große Freiheit.

European Film Awards: Best Cinematographer, Composer.

Last word: “The location wasn’t big. It was cold in winter, very cold, and it was dirty. Then we had to bring the lights to the second floor, it was really complicated. But on the other hand, we had the discussion if we should build the cells in the studio, but I was against it because I think shooting in a real location does something to the atmosphere of the filming process. It was, in the end, a film set as it was not in real, functioning prison. But, it’s a place with a lot of history, which does something not only to the actors, but also to the whole team.” (Meise, Awards Watch)