His father died, he cheated with a prostitute, and somehow that's not even the worst twist.
Oskar Roehler's drama Der Alte Affe Angst (Angst) is about the dissolution of a couple. Robert (Andre Hennicke) and Marie (Marie Baumer) have little in common other than their sex life. Since Robert is going through a bout with impotency, they are having a very rocky time. Robert learns that his father, whom he is estranged from, has died. This disturbs Robert so much that he visits a prostitute, and is able to engage in sex with her. Marie discovers the infidelity, and the prostitute has a surprise of her own. Angst was screened at the 2003 Berlin Film Festival.
Acting
Hennicke's crumbling masculinity is physically painful to witness.
Direction
Roehler's clinical gaze refuses to let you look away.
Director
Oskar Roehler
André Hennicke
Robert
Vadim Glowna
Klaus
Ralf Bauer
Markus
Jutta Hoffmann
Marie's Mother
Hermann Beyer
Maries Vater
Christoph Waltz
Analytiker
Herbert Knaup
Wolfgang
Peter Benedict
Dramaturg
Nina Petri
Klinikpsychologin
Eva Habermann
Laura
Ingrid van Bergen
Hannelore K.
Catherine Flemming
Mutter
Susanne Sachße
Naked woman
Hilde Van Mieghem
Brigitte
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title translates literally as 'The Old Monkey Angst'—a German idiom for primal, inescapable dread.
Roehler was part of the post-Wall 'Berlin School' movement obsessed with emotional austerity and bodily shame.
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