Noisy Martha

Martha lives in Hamburg with her small son. She also makes films. “In order to be closer to the pulse of society” she has moved in with portuguese friends: Teresa helps other migrants with their struggles with administrative authorities. Martha meanwhile tries to start a love story with Alfred, who either doesn’t have a hold on things. At the end of his thirties, he’s still studying architecture and he doesn’t let up with Martha either. The everyday live of the three reflects the realities of the german federal republic, that are captured spontaneously and occasionally parodied to the point of absurdity: In the burocratic chaos of the immigration office, fates are accidentally switched as a result of administrative mismanagement. The representative of a private broadcaster competes against the killjoys of cultural criticism “without fear of superficiality”. In between, a reporter from a well known feminist film magazine visits Martha in her apartment in Hamburg and questions her about her situation as a woman making films: Women’s solidarity? Female aesthetics? Film-theoretical justifications? Martha doesn’t really want to take a clear position. And since neither she nor Pia Frankenberg like happy endings, Martha and Alfred after all meet in an open ending. He is searching for hold, she is looking for trouble.