The background to this: “Corsage” is still in the race for the foreign Oscar. He is currently on a shortlist of 15 foreign language films. Which five films will be nominated will be decided on Tuesday. Would you like a nomination? “I don’t know what to wish for anymore,” says Kreutzer. Until a few days ago, she probably would have hoped for that – but now “other things are more important”.
“The same movie it was before”
Kreutzer said the developments had “turned her life upside down” and that she was “speechless about the incident and about him (Teichtmeister, note)”. The director said she had not spoken to Teichtmeister since the indictment became known. There is without a doubt “a shadow over Corsage”, but “it doesn’t feel right to me” to withdraw the film,” says Kreutzer. “For me it’s the same film that it was before.”
Kreutzer said to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (“SZ”, Sunday edition): “We would give him tremendous power if we said you can no longer see this film. I’m not ready for that,” said Kreuzer. In addition, Teichtmeister is only one of many people involved in the film. “Years of work and a lot of love from many people have gone into ‘Corsage’. That’s why it hurts so much that the film will always be afflicted with these horrific acts,” says Kreutzer.
“The Teichtmeister Case – The Innocent Face of a Civilized Nation”
The case of Florian Teichmeister triggered shock and dismay last week. In the meantime, the actor has been dismissed from the ensemble of the Burgtheater, but the film “Corsage” is still being held on as a candidate for the foreign Oscar. Do the culture industry and the media have to put up with the accusation of not having acted? Should the work of art be viewed separately from the actions of the artist? And how should one react appropriately to suspicions? ORF III moderator Ani Gülgün-Mayr discusses this and more with Marie Kreutzer (director “Corsage”), Florian Klenk (editor-in-chief “Falter”), Petra Morze (actress), Heinz Sichrovsky (culture journalist) and Natascha Strobl (political scientist and author ).
“We would have breached the contract”
Due to a lack of time, Kreutzer said in “ORF III LIVE” that she had not been able to think about the question of whether scenes could have been cut out of the film after the allegations had been filed in the previous week. Before that, when the rumors started, one could have asked oneself, says Kreutzer, but one cannot simply end productions based on rumors or cut out scenes. “We would have breached the contract.”
Kreutzer pointed out to the “SZ” that the shooting of “Corsage” was over when the rumors about Teichtmeister came up. She met him twice in preparation for the film and shot with him for eleven days. “My connection with Teichtmeister doesn’t go beyond that,” the director stated. On the set he “remained aloof to a certain extent”.
“Clearly denied”
She found out about the allegations through anonymous media reports. She then emailed Teichtmeister to ask what the rumors were about. Teichtmeister “clearly denied it,” said Kreutzer. He was not involved in the press work for “Corsage”. Nevertheless, they performed together at some premieres. “Of course you can say that we could have actively prevented that. But that’s where we get into the problematic area of how to deal with rumours. There is no protocol for this either, not even a moral one,” says the director.
“This is my greatest misfortune”
The second, unnamed “Corsage” actor, who is confronted with allegations of sexual harassment, was also a topic on “ORF III LIVE”. The latter turned to the public through a lawyer, rejected the allegations and insisted on not being called by name. “That’s a completely different story, which is highly problematic,” says Kreutzer. “That’s my greatest misfortune,” she said, “trusted the two men, maybe that wasn’t right.”
In relation to the current issue of the news magazine “profil”, Kreutzer stated that this actor had assured her in many conversations that there were no criminally relevant allegations against him and that he had never acted in an abusive manner. The fact that he has now spoken about his lawyer is “good and right”. She can understand that he does it without naming them. But all the men who worked on this film would have to live with being under suspicion, Kreutzer told “ORF III LIVE” and “profil”.
Call for child protection concepts in film
Kreutzer also noted that the industry still lacks rules for the “difficult handling of public but anonymous allegations of sexual harassment by members of a film crew outside of a production”. There are no mandatory child protection concepts (…) in the film, according to Kreutzer. Although there is a code of ethics for dealing with each other, there are no child protection concepts, said Kreutzer. “That’s honestly the focus, the question of what we can do,” said the director.
Kreutzer has been working on a new film material since September 2020 and, under the working title “Johnny Maccaroni”, is dealing with a topic similar to the Teichtmeister case. “I wanted to do what I can: namely, to tell a story to sharpen perception or to create awareness of the topic,” Kreutzer explained to “SZ” and “ORFIII LIVE”. The research is “hard and painful”. Again and again she was unsure whether the film would even come about.
“By far not an isolated case”
Kreutzer said to the “SZ”: “How I feel is of course unimportant in relation to the victims of child abuse, of whom many who are now adults are following this case and are re-traumatized,” said Kreutzer. More important than any price, however, is “to deal with the offense itself and with what actually happened there”. In general, the Teichtmeister case is “by no means an isolated case, although it is a very prominent case,” said Kreutzer.
Actress Petra Morze played together with Teichtmeister in the film “Serviam – I want to serve”. Teichtmeister is said to have photographed minors on the set. The promotion for the film then took place without him. “We should pay more attention to our intuition,” said Morze on ORF III. You have to show civil courage and report suspicious things.
Cultural journalist Heinz Sichrovsky advocated separating the work from the artists on “ORFIII LIVE”, otherwise one would have to start sifting through the entire cultural history for misconduct. “I think that’s extremely questionable.” He showed little understanding for the fact that the Burgtheater continued to send Teichtmeister onto the stage in leading roles even after the suspicion existed and now wants to sue him for damages. “That seems very absurd to me,” says Sichrovsky.
