He wants to be a good worker, a great husband, a caring father, an artist, a clown, a politician – he is everything at the same time. Gerhard Gundermann is hero and anti-hero, a constant contradiction, a glittering figure typical of the former East-Germany – and again not. People like him are everywhere. And they offend everywhere.

This is both a music film and a love story; a drama about guilt and entanglement. The director Andreas Dresen looks at the life of singer/songwriter Gerhard Gundermann, who rose to prominence in the waning years of the German Democratic Republic. In Germany, the film was a box-office hit while critics hailed it as an outstandingly honest portrait of living in an oppressive society.

Curator's point of view: The subject of informants is topical also in German cinema – the prominent director unravels it with passion and style.