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By-products of Love

GER/FR 1996, 125 min

Werner Schroeter’s exceptional documentation on the art of singing and how it is brought into existence.

Synopsis

Where does the expressivity of a grand voice come from? What is it that gives us goosebumps? To answer these questions, Werner Schroeter invited the female and male singers he admires most to a french abbey from the 13th century, together with their friends, lovers and kids. There they were asked to bring an aria to life  just as if they told the story of their own life.

BY-PRODUCTS OF LOVE cannot be seen as a conventional documentary film, but as an extraordinary and experimental portrait of contemporary singers. The audience can witness the art of singing in the making.

Awards and Festivals

- Preis der deutschen Filmkritik 1996

Additional Texts

Claire Alby about BY-PRODUCTS OF LOVE
(published in the press book prior to Abfallprodukte der Liebe's theatrical release on 11.07.1996)

“What is it that sings inside me while I listen to the song with my body? Everything reverberating inside, everything that scares me or awakens my desires?”

In one of the movie's first shots, Werner Schroeter quotes the French philosopher Roland Barthes who asked the question that became the movie's leitmotif: “How, and why, do singers find emotions in their voices?” Werner Schroeter was lucky enough to work with the singers he appreciated most in order to explore the answer to the question. In addition to the singers that had worked with him regularly, Schroeter was able to draw in three more endlessly talented artists: Martha Mödl, Rita Gorr and Anita Cerquetti. For 30 years, Schroeter had hoped that he would one day meet these women. Two of the three, Martha Mödl and Rita Gorr, already knew some of the director’s work.

Three women, three different destinies; Allusions to Maria Callas, who had accompanied Schroeter spiritually since his adolescent days and strongly influenced his theater, film and lyrical oevre and especially his personal life. On the one hand, there was no set script for the film – and there wasn’t supposed to be – on the other hand, it worked with very specific requirements: The shooting locations at the Abbey of Royaumont and around Düsseldorf and the selected performers. These were the groundrules for everyone involved. Every singer was at one of the shooting locations for two days and rehearsed one of the arias that Schroeter had selected.

Werner Schroeter invited the following performers:

Anita Cerquetti – Soprano
Martha Mödl – Dramatischer Sopran
Rita Gorr – Mezzo-Soprano
Kristine Ciesinski – Soprano
Katherine Ciesinski – Mezzo-Soprano
Laurence Dale – Tenor
Jenny Drivala – Soprano
Gail Gilmore – Soprano
Sergei Larin – Tenor
Trudeliese Schmidt – Mezzo-Soprano

Schroeter also invited Elisabeth Cooper, who turned all opera and orchestra scores into piano or organ music as part of a “One-woman-orchestra”. She was present for the production's entire duration including the principal film shoots where she helped out the artists day and night.

The director and his crew followed his guests along their daily routines, suggested they wear their costumes and familiarize themselves with the Abbey, the grotto, the lobby, the musical library, the garden, etc. In cooperation with costume designer Alberte Barsacq, Schroter changed sets and working spaces. He worked with camerawoman Elfi Mikesch to create the right lighting for the respective working artists’ atmospheres. The makers tried out different versions to gain insight into the singers' daily routines. Each singer was not only assigned their own aria but also personal props like a hat, a dress, special make-up or an individual curtain.

“I shortly explained to the singers that they would not have to sing an entire opera for this film, just an aria that would bring them to life, as if they were telling the story of their own personal lives,” says Werner Schroeter about the project. “My actual aim exceeded the development and interpretation of the characters. I wanted to try to remove masks and facades to get to the heart of the music. That’s all I want to work with. I invited my friends, actresses Caroline Bouquet and Isabelle Huppert to converse with Anita Cerquetti and Martha Mödl. Carole Bouquet asked Anita Cerquetti in Italian why she stopped singing at the height of her career. Isabelle Huppert asked Martha Mödle how she sang the aria from Fidelio that they were listening to together and if she gave voice lessons. The film doesn’t just tell a story about music and the opera. The voice, the mystery of ‘human beings’ and everything that surrounds them are my tools and my resources for creating the characters and screenplay.
The movie is based on an exceptional exchange between the artist and his talent that allows him to express intense emotions and lets the audience long to pick up every nuance of these feelings. I was trying to evoke the adventure of singing, to explore how it expresses feelings that are deep inside of us. Most importantly, I wanted to share my personal passion for singers and their art with the audience. The movie is simply the return to a source; a short, affectionate view on the singers’ private lives.
All of our feelings and passions were brought together in the final scene and personified by Anita Cerquetti’s loneliness. She looks at the sky and we listen to a ‘Casta Diva’ recording of hers from the 1960’s. That’s the last image of the film, then the lights go out.”

Credits

Director and Concept
Werner Schroeter
With
Anita Cerquetti, Gail Gilmore, Martha Mödl, Rita Gorr, Trudeliese Schmidt, Laurence Dale, Jenny Drivala, Carole Bouquet, Isabelle Huppert
Director of Photography
Elfi Mikesch
First Assistant Camera
Ralph Netzer
Second Assistant Camera
Christine Anna Maier
Set Photographer
Astrid Wirth
Editor
Juliane Lorenz
Assistant Editor 
Andrea Wenzler
Music
Elisabeth Cooper
Production Design
Alberte Barsacq, Stefanie Pasterkamp, Nina Wetzel
Make-up Artist
Florence Fouquier
Costume Design
Alberte Barsacq
Costume Assistant
Stefanie Pasterkamp, Nina Wetzel
Lighting Design  
Ralf M. Mendle, Andreas Faigle, Hajo Schomerus
Sound
Vasco Pimentel
Sound Assistant 
Amaury de Nexon
Sound Mixing
Matthias Lempert
Sound Editing
Vasco Pimentel
Assistant Director
Tonio Arango
Location Manager
François Crepin, Marcelo Busse
Location Manager Assistant
Thorsten Sellheim, Barbara Obermaier
Production Manager
Adeline Dos Santos, Christian Vizi
Producer
Jean-Pierre Bailly, Anne Chauvin, Christoph Meyer-Wiel, Wieland Schulz-Keil
Produced by
MC 4, Imalrye, VT COM, Schlemmer Film, La Sept ARTE (Gabrielle Babin Gugenheim), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Werner Dütsch), France Supervision
Funded by
Centre National de la Cinématographie, Film- und Medien Stiftung NRW, Procirep, Aktionsplan 16:9 der EU, France Télécom Fondation
German Premiere
24.10.1996, Hof, Internationale Filmtage

DVD-Details

Extras
WERNER SCHROETER INSZENIERT KATZELMACHER (5 min), Photo Gallery, Theatrical Trailer
Language
German (partly French and Italian with German subtitles – cannot be hidden)
Country Code
Code-free
System
PAL / Color
Length
125 min + Extras
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Sound Format
DD 2.0
Content
Softbox (Set Content: 1)
Release Date
03.04.2009
Rating
From 6 Years