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Malina

Malina

Movie · 1991 · 13 people

Werner Schroeter directed Malina, a German-Austrian film from 1991. Described as an avant-garde, arthouse, surrealist psychological drama, it is based on Ingeborg Bachmann's 1971 novel of the same name, adapted for the screen by Elfriede Jelinek. Its genres also include fantasy and romance. It was entered in the competition at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Shot in French and German, it runs about 125 minutes and first opened on 17 January 1991.

The story is set in Vienna. A young writer, referred to only as the Woman, shares an apartment with Malina, who supports her in life. Meeting a man named Ivan upsets the balance she has built. Drawn under Ivan's spell, she finds herself in the middle of a passion involving all three. Isabelle Huppert plays the Woman, Mathieu Carrière is Malina and Can Togay is Ivan; Isolde Barth plays the mother. The cast also includes Libgart Schwarz, Lisa Kreuzer, Lolita Chammah and Peter Kern.

Some listings also credit Schroeter as a screenwriter, and others name Patricia Moraz.

DirectorWerner Schroeter
Malina Malina

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Cast

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Can Togay Can Togay Actor · 71 years old Ivan Isabelle Huppert Mathieu Carrière Libgart Schwarz Lisa Kreuzer Lolita Chammah Peter Kern Isolde Barth Fritz Schediwy Gertrud Roll Hanno Pöschl Brigitte Antonius Nicolin Kunz

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Schroeter's Malina is less interested in telling a story in the classical sense than in staging the inside of a consciousness, which is why the labels avant-garde and surrealist are not decoration but the method itself. Elfriede Jelinek's adaptation of Bachmann's novel gives the text literary density, but it also pushes the film far from easy access. The character known only as the Woman is built more like a state of mind than a person, and the film loads all its weight onto this figure, played by Isabelle Huppert. The balance between Malina and Ivan reads less as an ordinary love triangle than as two poles of an inner world. My reservation is about access: placing the narrative somewhere this subjective can easily shut out viewers who want an emotional bond with the characters. A Cannes competition entry, uncompromising and demanding patience.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

What makes Malina interesting is its focus on female subjectivity rather than on any particular social period. A writer who is never named, called only the Woman, searching for her own balance between Malina, who supports her, and Ivan, who draws her under his spell, raises questions about a woman's identity being defined through her relationships. The source novel is Ingeborg Bachmann's and the adaptation is Elfriede Jelinek's, so an experience filtered through two women writers reaches the screen through a male director's eye. That layered perspective keeps the film open to debate today. A shared flat in Vienna, meanwhile, puts the closed world of the individual ahead of the breadth of society.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

This is not a family film. There is a passion involving three people and a surreal, psychological way of telling it, so it is not a suitable pick for children or teenagers. I would not suggest it to parents looking for an easy evening film either, because it asks for attention and patience. It is the kind of film for adults who enjoy art cinema to watch on their own.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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