Wer weiß schon, was ein Leben ist? (2026)

mini|Katharina Stark at the 2025 Berlinale A young woman, played by Katharina Stark, wants to get the role of Paula Modersohn-Becker at an audition, arguing that she looks like her and is also similar to her in character. She immediately qualifies this, adding: “Who knows what a life is?” She gets the part, and now begins to engage intensively with the artist. She also meets the other three actors, who are taking the roles of Otto Modersohn, Clara Rilke-Westhoff, and Rainer Maria Rilke. To portray Paula realistically, the young actress visits the places that shaped the artist’s life: Worpswede and Paris. She repeatedly thinks aloud about the artist, visits the places where she lived, wants to see her art academy in Paris, and wanders through the nature of Worpswede, which fascinated Paula. She seems to share something with the other artist, Clara Rilke-Westhoff, that goes beyond friendship. The two actresses also try to learn painting and sculpture in order to be authentic. The actress playing Clara accompanies her colleague to Paris. The actor playing her future husband, Otto, also arrives in Paris without warning. The pair grow closer in the present day, seemingly mirroring the relationship between Otto and Paula at the time. The young actress is often seen in costume, sometimes walking around modern-day Paris dressed that way. In this way, Paula’s past and the actress’s present intermingle. As the artist’s life is researched, everyday objects that Paula actually painted are shown. At appropriate points, her original works illustrate how she painted everyday objects and people. The film also raises the question of whether Paula had an affair with Rilke in Paris. She eventually separated from Otto and went to Paris alone to further develop her art. Only after she ran out of money did she return to Otto in Worpswede and have his child. She died of an embolism shortly afterward. Passages from letters are read aloud, and comments and explanations about her life from art experts are woven into the film’s story. Those who speak include art expert Julia Voss, the director of the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum in Bremen, and others. Events discussed across different periods and levels of perception are repeatedly clarified in the form of a news-style ticker that appears along the bottom of the screen. This contributes to a multifaceted investigation of her life. The making of the documentary itself becomes the subject of the film.