Anselm dir. Wim Wenders

“Anselm” / dir. Wim Wenders / documentary / 2023 / 93 min. / Germany, France, Italy

The portrait of German artist Anselm Kiefer, presented at Cannes, is like his large-scale sculptures – monumental yet still rooted in a human perspective. This is certainly not a classic documentary with “talking heads.” Following the unforgettable “Pina,” Wim Wenders offers another immersive film experience, allowing us to enter the world of the creator and his works. Fictionalized scenes, archival footage, and 3D shots of the gigantic workshop come together to create a nuanced depiction of a man battling post-war collective amnesia.

Born in 1945, Kiefer, a student of Joseph Beuys, was initially regarded by some as merely a provocateur, or even a sympathizer of Nazism. However, like Heinrich Böll in literature, he used his works to address the difficult past of Germany. Wenders travels with his camera across the vast area in Barjac, France – an artistic studio and an exhibition subject to entropy. Construction and decay, myth and reality, testimony and disappearance – these fascinations are evident in Kiefer’s creations, such as multi-story concrete towers and underground tunnels. Simultaneously, the director allows himself a tender cinematic gesture – the meeting of young Anselm (played by Wenders’ cousin) with the esteemed artist.