Liebe in the Gängen – In the Gängen (2018)

Directed by: Thomas Stuber | 125 minutes | drama | Actors: Franz Rogowski, Peter Kurth, Sanra Hüller, Henning Peker, Ramona Kunze-Libnow, Clemens Meyer, Matthias Brenner, Gerdy Zint, Andreas Leupold, Michael Specht, Sascha Nathan, Steffen Scheumann, Matthias Börner, Robert Carlo Ceder

The supermarket resembles a socialist experiment, as if Walmart has opened a branch in the former GDR. The store is the size of an American mega-supermarket, but the employees, the assortment, the stuffiness and even the coffee machine seem to have run away from former East Germany. This East German association is not so strange, because the store is located along the meadows on the edge of Leipzig. The only difference between former and present-day East Germany is that the shelves are stocked here.

The German dry comedy drama ‘Liebe in den Gängen’ takes place almost entirely in this shop. We meet collaborators such as the taciturn Christian (drink), the veteran Bruno (drink) and the flirtatious Marion (confectionery). They drive forklift trucks, usually at night, with the on-duty sitter playing nice music and the workers regularly smoking a cigarette outside. It is in this at once cozy and desolate setting that Christian falls in love with Marion. Unfortunately, Christian and Marion have their demons (and maybe Bruno does too).

‘Liebe in den Gängen’ takes the time to tell its story. This way we get to know not only the characters but also the wonderful world of the night shift. Slowly we understand that most employees actually aspire to something else, but that the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has not been a blessing for them. Yet they try to make the most of it, with their own rituals, their own little Christmas party, their own coffee breaks.

The relatively long running time allows for a slow transition from comedy to drama. The comic is of the dry kind, sometimes a bit Kaurismäki, sometimes more elated, sometimes purely visual. Behind the drama of failed careers and long working days lies a message that we know from the oeuvre of Ken Loach and from the Spanish ‘Los lunes al sol’. A message about the need for camaraderie and solidarity for the losers in this society. And of course it is about a Germany that is still hopelessly divided.

The script and message alone make the film worth watching. Credible characters, stylish photography, great soundtrack (Timbe Timbre and Son Lux), fine acting, telling details and consistent atmosphere make ‘Liebe in den Gängen’ much more than a nice tragicomedy about a supermarket in the former East Germany . Arthouse pearl of the week, that’s getting closer.