Private Project

Gretchen at the spinning wheel

What is pure imagination and what reality? Magdalena Chmielewska’s dream-like portrayals Gretchen’s spinning and brooding in her love to Faust make it nearly impossible to differentiate. Her love is a constant toing and froing between pure passion and panic desperation, between slowing down and accelerating – the principle upon which Schubert’s masterpiece rests. Made under the auspices of Michael Haneke at the National Film and TV School in Vienna Filmakademie Wien.

  • Magdalena Chmielewska
    Director
  • Magdalena Chmielewska
    Writer
  • Magdalena Chmielewska
    Producer
  • Filmacademy Vienna
    Producer
  • Stephanie Cumming
    Key Cast
    Gretchen
  • Nico Ehrenteit
    Key Cast
    Faust
  • Chris Rudz
    Cinematography
  • Michal Honnens (GER)
    Production
  • Clara Maria Bacher (AUT)
    Production
  • Katja Deutschmann
    Costume Design
  • Fateh Tuncer Gaffer
    Lighting
  • Georg Vogler
    Lighting
  • Oliver Kunz
    Posproduction
    Colour Correction
  • Lukas Kampichler
    Posproduction
    Compositing
  • Magdalena Chmielewska
    Posproduction
    Editing
  • Caroline Jestaedt
    Singer
  • Ulrich Wagner
    Sound design & editing
  • Michael Haneke
    Scriptwriting mentor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Gretchen am Spinnrade
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Music Video, Short
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 1, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    French, German
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Magdalena Chmielewska
    ORF Austrian State Broadcaster & ARTE Television
    November 22, 2015
    Austria
    AUDIENCE AWARD
  • Vienna Independent Shorts 2016
    Vienna
    May 28, 2016
    Austrian Premiere
  • Filmkunstfest M-V, Germany
    Schwerin
  • T-Mobile Nowe Horyzonty Wroclaw, Poland
    Wroclaw
    Poland
    July 24, 2016
  • East European Film Festival
    Szczecin
    Poland
    May 10, 2016
  • Austrian American Film Festival
    New York City
    United States
    March 27, 2017
Distribution Information
  • Magdalena Chmielewska
Director Biography - Magdalena Chmielewska

freelance film maker from Poland. Magda has lived in Vienna for 12 years, where she studied Transcultural Communication and Film and Theatre Studies, received a scholarship at the Department of Visual Arts at the University Barcelona and finished Film Editing and Directing Studies at the Film Academy in Vienna (Filmakademie Wien). Prior to her becoming a freelance director Magdalena worked regularly as an Assistant or or Casting Director on international film projects. She makes her own short films and documentaries and directs commercials and music films.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The Common ground in my artistic examination through films can be found in my search for a potential for protest, for the very individual and personal paths to freedom.
When Prof. Michael Haneke introduced the project to us, I immediately chose "Gretchen am Spinnrade". I was excited by the idea of interpreting Goethe's material in Schubert's composition as a music video - and of being able to connect the timelessness of the masterpiece with the aesthetic of a video clip. In the conception of the character of Gretchen, I brought together three Gretchen figures: Gretchen from Goethe's "Faust", Margarete from "The Master and Margerita" by Bulgakov and Susanna Margaretha Brandt, who served as inspiration for the character of Gretchen for Goethe in "Faust". What interested me most of all were the moments in which the main character imposes her subjective view on reality and her relationship and thereby ultimately risks losing herself and then her partner. In realising the story, I'd like to liberate Gretchen's destiny as a woman, aware of the ideal of the beautiful art (Abramovic), trying to save her from being totally romanticised. In the editing we will follow the poetic principles, instead of just following the logic of the plot.
I'll be able to give form to Gretchen's ambivalence using the apparent contradiction between text by Goethe and our imagery. With Stephanie Cumming as Gretchen, we have successfully cast this role perfectly. We've also found the perfect backdrop for our film in the Villa Hirsch on the beach at Heiligendamm.