Tom Tykwer is back on the big screen. In “Das Licht,” the director addresses the state of the world through the example of a Berlin family and their Syrian housekeeper. Valérie Catil reflects on the characters' interactions, on clichés, and the function of a magic lamp.
The figure of the “magical Black” is a well-known motif in cinema: a wise, often self-sacrificing supporting character who helps the white protagonist to evolve or overcome an obstacle. The most famous example of this is John Coffey from The Green Mile. It was director Spike Lee who popularized the term “magical Black,” disturbed by how frequently this cliché continues to appear in Hollywood films. Farrah (Tala Al Deen) from Tom Tykwer's new feature film, the opening film of the Berlinale, is the adapted version of the “magical Black” for Germans – the magical Syrian. Tom Tykwer has previously opened the Berlinale twice – in 2002 with Heaven and in 2009 with The International. For the 75th edition of the festival, he returns to present Das Licht (The Light), his first feature film in ten years. During that time, he focused primarily on the historical series Babylon Berlin.Just a Projection Surface
Stylistically, Das Licht is not unusual for Tykwer: loud, tending towards kitsch, with metaphors that hit you in the face, such as the recurring hourglass, in which instead of grains of sand, drops of water fall. There are even singing and dancing numbers that may seem somewhat out of place, but one can certainly engage with them. This is not the problem. The issue, although the intention may be good, is that the Syrian, Farrah, ultimately remains a mere projection surface: her story is instrumentalized to show the Germans that they are actually not doing so badly.The Germans are the Engels family, a collection of dysfunctional archetypes of the Berlin bourgeoisie: the 17-year-old daughter Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer) takes LSD with her friends in the techno club Kater Blau, pushes her activism forward, and has an abortion. Her twin brother, Jon (Julius Gause), spends most of his time behind VR glasses in his cluttered room. The father, Tim (Lars Eidinger), is a former alternative. Today, he cycles through the always rainy city in functional clothing and has long sold his soul to his employer, a PR firm. Finally, there is Milena (Nicolette Krebitz), the mother. She is constantly looking for funding opportunities for her theater project in Nairobi. With a former Kenyan friend, she also has an extramarital child, Dio (Elias Eldrige), who now stays with the Engels every other week.
Barely Coexisting
No one speaks to anyone else in the family. They all live past each other in this cluttered old apartment – a place that feels not only overloaded but downright stuck. The son barricades himself. The politicized daughter opposes the burned-out ideals of her parents. And Tim and Milena have no love left for each other. When the Engels are not arguing, they ignore each other. So far, so dysfunctional.Into this world bursts Farrah, who starts working as a cleaner for the Engels. And she brings the light into the story. To confront her trauma from her escape from Syria, she uses this light. It comes from a device that one sits opposite, which flashes strobe-like lights through closed eyelids onto the retina. This is supposed to release endogenous DMT – a hallucinogenic substance that is only released at birth and death.
Who Heals Whom?
Farrah's story is fragmentary. What exactly happened to her remains unspoken. Rather, Farrah's trauma serves as background noise. For her actual function is to heal the German family. Farrah has a connection to all the Engels: as the only one, she manages to bring Jon out of his shell. Frieda tells her about the abortion. Milena cries in her arms. And Tim, like all the other family members, will sooner or later be confronted with the light by Farrah.Farrah is not allowed to become a real character with dimensions. She is mysterious, flat, good at heart. She remains a catalyst, she remains the magical Syrian. Until the end, because in the end it is not only Farrah who heals the Engels family – it is also the Engels who “save” them. In an exorcism-like family séance with the light, the Engels manage to get Farrah to let go of her past. Thanks to the Germans. Das Licht wants catharsis, but all it achieves is a crude fantasy of redemption.
February 2025