A sensitive dissection and an experiment with the discourse and the speechlessness of lovers: we see wet eyes and hear heavy swallowing in the face of words that sometimes weren’t even posted. The long lasting correspondence between Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan is recorded by voice actors (Anja Plaschg and Laurence Rupp) in an ORF sound studio, interrupted by smoking breaks and short conversations that, like an echo, allow the words to have an effect in the present day. With co-author Ina Hartwig, Beckermann condensed the back and forth of emotions to an essence that could be seen as an impossible love story or a possible history of love.

Patrick Holzapfel