Brigitte hobmeier: “i believe that our soul floats away”

Brigitte hobmeier (37), who was last seen as the bogeyman at the salzburg festival, stars in her new film "wer hat angst vorm weiben mann" (who’s afraid of a woman) in a comedy with a serious theme. She wants to take over her grumpy father franz rissmeyer’s butcher shop with the help of a congolese refugee and continue to run it in her interests. The old butcher tries to prevent it – even if he is only a ghost among the living. The actress talks to spot on news about everyday racism, life after death and her home bavaria. "Who is afraid of the weasel man" runs on 9. October at 20.15 o’clock in the first.

For her performance in "die hebamme – auf leben und tod" (the midwife – to life and death) brigitte hobmeier was awarded the grimme prize

In the comedy "who’s afraid of the white man??" It is actually a very serious issue. Is it allowed to laugh about xenophobia??

Brigitte hobmeier: it is a positive sign that we are able to take it from the funny side. It also fits well with director wolfgang murnberger, who is known for his black humor.

In the film also cliches about bavaria are used. Franz rissmeyer, a master butcher, is the perfect example of the bavarian grumpy man, distrustful of strangers and conscious of tradition. Do you think these cliches about the bavarians are true??

Hobmeier: it’s a shame when you have to say about your own people that they’re right, but they really are. If these jokes are to work, they have to have a real basis, otherwise they won’t work in polemics and black humor.

Your character zita deals very confidently with all the resistance in the story.

Hobmeier: I don’t think she’s that confident, her loneliness and her need already make her life difficult and weigh on her soul. She is not a little child who sits in a corner and waits for a knight, but without the help of alpha and her father she will not make it.

Franz rissmeyer goes through a strong change, from enemy to confidant of the asylum seeker alpha. Do you believe that people can be so fundamentally different??

Hobmeier: yes, i really think so. When you get involved in new things and take a good look at them. The foreign becomes familiar when you deal with it.

But often one is so helpless against racism in everyday life as if it were a fight against windmills.

Hobmeier: yes, I too sometimes stand there and ask myself how you can counter such nonsense with words and how you can make people understand that something is going very wrong.

The film is also about fear – of change, innovation and foreigners. What are you afraid of?

Hobmeier: I’m most afraid of losing the people I love.

Do you believe that there is a soul in man that leaves the body after death??

Hobmeier: I believe that our soul floats away and that we don’t just rot when our heart stops beating. With franz, the soul remains on earth in the form of the spirit. But the question is: do you envy him for that or is that the real holle??

What was it like shooting with andreas giebel as the ghost??

Hobmeier: that was very curious. We didn’t shoot chronologically and were very happy when we were allowed to play together again. It is strange, because he is present and fully there and I was not allowed to react to him.

You often appear in films set in bavaria. What does your home country of bavaria mean to you??

Hobmeier: home means a lot to me. Even those who deny their origins have their homeland in them as a loss or as an enrichment, as pain or as joy.

In many films the dialect plays a role. How many dialects do you know?

Hobmeier: i actually only speak bavarian.

In "dad alone at home" why don’t you speak saxon??

Hobmeier: that was an experiment, but i think everyone who comes from the countryside would say: sit six, mrs. Hobmeier. If someone speaks learned bavarian, he probably couldn’t satisfy me with it either, because it’s always something different when you’ve grown up with it. But language has always fascinated me, and I’ve always absorbed foreign dialects.

Does your heart beat more for the theater or for the film??

Hobmeier: so far i’ve been lucky enough to do both and actually my heart beats for not having to choose. I also like to do horror productions and readings. I don’t like this strict demarcation that someone is seen only as a theater actor or only as a movie actor. Something was really done to me when I was no longer allowed to do both. This kind of thinking does not do justice to us actors.

How would you react if you were offered a role as a crime scene commissioner??

Hobmeier: I didn’t become "yes" right away or "no say. I was listening to myself, what kind of person is this?. If it’s an exciting character who doesn’t just have to say, "where were you yesterday??", then this would be worth considering (laughs).

Which film did you play in would you like to make a second part of??

Hobmeier: i’m never really a fan of a second part. Sequels rarely thrilled me and were only a copy of the first part. If I had to do a second part, it would have to be of "summer in orange". I would be interested to know what became of the people.

What was the most important praise you ever received?

Hobmeier: i think the biggest praise was when sepp bierbichler wrote in my "susn was and then said: "passt scho, hobmeier". That was already an important recognition from such a primal stone.