Falco - Verdammt, wir leben noch! (2008)

The film is about Falco’s life, from his childhood in Vienna to his death in the Dominican Republic in 1998. It depicts Falco’s development from his beginnings with the Hallucination Company, through his brief success with the band Drahdiwaberl, to his solo breakthrough in the music business. It also shows Falco’s private life with women and family, and his drug addiction. The film opens on February 6, 1998, the day Falco dies. In a parking lot in the Dominican Republic, an SUV sits with loud music blaring from it. A waitress at a bar near the lot watches the vehicle and wonders who would voluntarily stay out in the blazing sun in this heat. Falco is inside, drunk and high, listening to his new album, Out of the Dark. The story then jumps to Vienna in the early 1960s. Young Hans Hölzel impresses everyone with his musical talent at a school performance. His devoted mother lets him listen to the radio and encourages him to practise, but also expects him to focus primarily on school. One day Hans meets Billy Filanowski, who becomes his best friend. Together they skip school and go to the cinema (where, among other things, they see Mozart, which makes a deep impression on Hans) or explore Vienna’s red-light district. His mother is displeased when the school tells her that her son is constantly skipping classes. He explains to her that he wants to be a pop star and that he does not need an education for that. Soon afterward, when Hans’s father, Alois, leaves the family, the already strong bond between Hans and his mother grows even stronger. A few years later, Hans is active as a bassist in several bands, including Drahdiwaberl and the Hallucination Company. Band leader Stefan Weber gives him the chance to sing as well. At a performance at the Sophiensäle, Hans—now announced as Falco for the first time—performs his song “Ganz Wien.” Music producer Markus Spiegel recognises the young artist’s potential and immediately signs him. However, the songs that follow, “Der Kommissar” and “Ganz Wien,” find no favour with Vienna’s radio stations because the lyrics are too difficult to understand and too controversial. Spiegel introduces Falco to German manager Horst Bork, who is very receptive to this new kind of music and manages to get Falco’s songs played on German radio. As part of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement, “Der Kommissar” becomes a huge hit, and the album Einzelhaft also sells well and reaches high chart positions. Falco tours extensively around Europe and, in the process, succumbs to alcohol and other drugs. When Billy visits him, Falco confides that he has run out of ideas for lyrics because he has already put all his feelings into his first record. The next album, Junge Roemer, receives high praise from the press before its release, but fails to achieve commercial success. Spiegel and Bork conclude that an artistic change is necessary. Instead of Robert Ponger, they hire Bolland & Bolland to produce the new album. Falco is initially unhappy with the idea: he is afraid that another failure will leave him an eternal one-hit wonder, and does not believe that “two washed-up child stars” could write songs for him. After Bork does a great deal of persuading, Falco finally records the single “Rock Me Amadeus,” which is an immediate hit. Work on the album Falco 3 that follows proves extremely difficult because Falco behaves very eccentrically and is constantly drunk, so Bork has to mediate once again. After a concert in Graz, Falco meets Jacky, who is married, at a club. They begin an affair, and she soon leaves her husband for him. The two move into an apartment in Vienna. The song “Jeanny,” also featured on Falco 3, causes a major stir: the media interpret it as glorifying a kidnapping and rape, while it simultaneously reaches number one in the charts. “Rock Me Amadeus” also reaches the top of the Billboard charts, becoming the first—and so far the only—German-language song ever to do so. This success, however, saddens Falco, who believes he has now reached the peak of his career and that, in his view, only a steep fall can follow. His international popularity initially continues, with tours of North America and Asia. But his family life suffers most: his wife Jacky and their newborn daughter feel neglected, as does Falco’s mother. Falco becomes increasingly dependent on alcohol and other drugs. Jacky leaves him several times, but often returns. It soon emerges that the daughter is not Falco’s biological child. His albums, too, can no longer match his earlier success. At the Donauinselfest in 1993, Falco arrives heavily intoxicated, but with a doctor’s help he manages to give a warmly received performance. To distance himself from his former life, he buys a villa in the Dominican Republic. There he works on a new album and, by the mid-1990s, achieves some success again. Falco celebrates his 40th birthday with many old friends and colleagues, and also presents new songs there. He does not live to see the release of his album Out of the Dark: on February 6, 1998, he drives his SUV out of a bar’s parking lot and is hit by a tour bus. The actual collision is not shown. The film ends with the song “Out of the Dark,” while information is given about what happens to the people afterward.