Berlin Chamissoplatz (1980)

The film opens with a pan across the rooftops of Berlin. Below, a street festival is taking place at Chamissoplatz. Anna Bach, a sociology student, uses a video camera to interview the architect Martin Berger, who is in charge of the redevelopment program for this residential neighborhood. At a meeting of the group campaigning for tenant-friendly redevelopment, Anna shows her footage. Her boyfriend, Jörg, is one of the tenants’ group’s spokespersons. To get more information about the redevelopment program—for example, which buildings are to be demolished—Anna goes to Martin’s office. Since he still has work to do, he asks her to wait. He wants to take her out to dinner later. At the restaurant, he promises to help her and to make inquiries about unofficial information. After a visit to a pub, Martin drives Anna home. It is clear that, despite their considerable age difference—he is 43 and she is 24—they are attracted to each other. At a meeting of the tenants’ group at the Chamissoladen, Jörg secretly records Martin’s remarks on a tape recorder. When Anna finds out later, she argues with her boyfriend. She meets Martin again at a pub. When she gets home, she and Jörg argue again. He leaves and gives her back the key to her apartment. Meanwhile, Martin cannot get to sleep at home. He gets into his car and spends the night outside her house. The next morning he gets an extravagant breakfast. When Anna leaves the house, she spots him. They have breakfast in bed and sleep together for the first time. Anna and Martin spend a lot of time together. In one scene, he sings her a love song at his grand piano. They are happy. One night, he sprays “Anna, I love you” in red paint on the fire wall she can see from her bed. Martin takes some time off at short notice, and they drive to the seaside in Italy. They arrive at sunrise. On the beach, Anna tells him she is pregnant. But she does not believe the child is his. Neither of them knows whether she should keep the baby. At a residents’ festival, the Chamissoblatt, the tenants’ group’s information leaflet, is distributed. Martin discovers that his remarks have been distorted and quoted under his name. He throws a cup of red wine in Jörg’s face—the article’s author. Then he drives off. Anna follows him, but he does not stop. She borrows a car and drives after him.