''The Girlfriend'' () is a 1988 Argentine-German

historical History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Jeanine Meerapfel Jeanine Meerapfel (born 14 June 1943) is a German-Argentine film director and screenwriter. She has directed twenty films since 1966. In 1984, she was a member of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival. She was born in 1943, in ...

and starring

Liv Ullmann Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938) is a Norwegian actress and filmmaker. Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, whom she date ...

Cipe Lincovsky Cecilia "Cipe" Lincovsky (21 September 1929 – 31 August 2015) was an Argentine actress. She made her stage debut in 1953, and joined the Berliner Ensemble in 1960. Lincovsky spent much of her career overseas, including in Venezuela and France, ...

and

Federico Luppi Federico Luppi (; February 23, 1936 – October 20, 2017) was an Argentine film, television, radio and theatre actor. He won numerous awards throughout his acting career. Biography Luppi worked mostly in Argentine cinema, but also worked in Ch ...

. It was written by

Osvaldo Bayer Osvaldo Bayer (18 February 1927 – 24 December 2018) was an Argentine writer and journalist. He lived in Buenos Aires. In 1974, during the presidency of Isabel Perón, he went into exile, residing in Linz am Rhein, Germany, throughout the Nationa ...

Alcides Chiesa ''Alcides'' is a genus of uraniid moths from northern Australia, New Guinea, and other islands in the region. They are diurnal and strongly marked with iridescent colours. List of species * ''Alcides agathyrsus'' Kirsch, 1877 yn.= A. boops ...

and

Agnieszka Holland Agnieszka Holland (; born 28 November 1948) is a Polish film and television director and screenwriter, best known for her cultural and political contributions to Polish cinema. She began her career as an assistant to directors Krzysztof Zanuss ...

. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Bes ...

at the

62nd Academy Awards The 62nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 1989 and took place on March 26, 1990, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p ...

, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Plot

María and Pancho (Liv Ullmann and Federico Luppi) are a happily married couple in a quiet, working-class suburb south of

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, circa 1978. They share the grief over the disappearance of their eldest son Carlos (Gonzalo Arguimbau), with María's lifelong friend Raquel Kessler (Cipe Lincovsky), a feisty

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

girl whose cultural identity made her a target to some; but all the more endearing to María, her only gentile childhood friend. "Married" to the theatre, in which she became prominent, Raquel's career has been protected from anti-Semitic attacks by her lover Diego (Victor Laplace), an influential public television executive who skillfully maintains a balance between his love for the opinionated Raquel and the need to placate the repressive mindset prevalent in that era's last civil-military dictatorship (1976-1983). María's relentless search for her son strains her relationship with both her husband and Raquel, who give up hope after lengthy and costly attempts to find him. Raquel's own Jewish identity and fondness for roles "discouraged" by the dictatorship such as

Antigone ANTIGONE (Algorithms for coNTinuous / Integer Global Optimization of Nonlinear Equations), is a deterministic global optimization solver for general Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programs (MINLP). History ANTIGONE is an evolution of GloMIQO, a global ...

cause her serious problems, as well, and lead to her exile in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. María, who had always led a quiet life, earns the growing respect of her fellow

Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo () is an Argentina, Argentine human rights association formed in response to abuses by the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship by Jorge Rafael Videla. Initially the association worked to find ...

, women from all walks of life united by their search for their detained sons and daughters (most of whom were known by the dictatorship to be uninvolved in

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...

). This mission becomes her life's passion and eventually leads her to Berlin, where a

German Argentine German Argentines (, ) are Argentines of German ancestry as well as German citizens living in Argentina. They are descendants of Germans who immigrated to Argentina from Germany and most notably from other places in Europe such as the Volga ...

exile tells her of his having seen Carlos near death at one of the many secret government detention centers, an anecdote rejected by the grieving María, who returns to Buenos Aires driven to find her son. Raquel herself returns to Argentina following democratic elections in 1983, finding that Diego is unhappily married and that María will never accept the death of her son as fact. Bewildered, Raquel nearly gives up on María; finding instead that the bonds of a lifelong friendship endure.

Cast

... María *

... Raquel Kessler *

... Pancho *

Víctor Laplace Víctor Laplace (born 30 May 1943) is an Argentina, Argentine film actor. Laplace was born in Tandil, Buenos Aires. The son of a watchmaking jeweler and a housewife. When he was 14, he started working as a metallurgist in a factory, there he al ...

... Diego *

Lito Cruz Lito Cruz (May 14, 1941 – December 19, 2017) was a prominent Argentine stage director and motion picture actor. Life and work Lito was born Oscar Alberto Cruz in the working-class La Plata suburb of Berisso in 1941, and began performing in lo ...

... Tito, the police lieutenant *

Nicolás Frei Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

... Commando squad leader *

Harry Baer Harry Baer (born Harry Zöttl on 27 September 1947) is a German actor, producer and author, best known for his work with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He has also been credited as Harry Bär. Life Harry Baer began his career in Munich when h ...

... Raquel's friend in Berlin * Gregor Hansen ... Witness to Carlos' torture * Gonzalo Arguimbau ... Carlos *

Fernán Mirás Fernán Gonzalo Mirás (born July 17, 1969) is an Argentine film and television actor and film director. He is sometimes credited as Fernando Mirás. Career He debuted in theater at the play ''El protagonista'', in 1989. In 1993 he starred i ...

... Pedro *

Max Berliner Max Berliner (, born Mordcha Berliner; Warsaw, 23 October 1919 - Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the so ...

...Cemetery caretaker * Beatriz Thibaudin ... Unsympathetic neighbor *

Bárbara Mujica Bárbara Mujica (née Bárbara Moinelo Múgica; stage name Barbara Moinelo; March 13, 1944, in Buenos Aires – August 1, 1990, in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine film, stage, and television actress of the 1960s and 1970s. Her mother was the act ...

... Maria's dubbed, Spanish-language voice

References

External links

*
''La Amiga - Die Freundin''
at

filmportal.de filmportal.de is an online database of information related to German film. It includes extensive information on films and filmmakers as well as articles on film issues. The website was released on occasion of the 54th Berlin International Film ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girlfriend 1988 films German drama films West German films Argentine drama films Argentine black-and-white films 1988 drama films 1980s German-language films 1980s Spanish-language films Films about Latin American military dictatorships Films directed by Jeanine Meerapfel Films set in Buenos Aires Films shot in Buenos Aires 1988 multilingual films Argentine multilingual films German multilingual films 1980s German films

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links