Katrin Sass preserves a character's dignity when the comedy around her might prefer an easy target. We value her firmness in Good Bye, Lenin, where a mother's right to be taken seriously complicates the jokes.
Fi1m perspective
In Good Bye, Lenin (2003), Katrin Sass plays a mother whose son decides how much of the outside world she should be allowed to know. Wolfgang Becker builds a family comedy around his efforts to keep her from finding out. We felt protective of her because Sass never lets the mother become a fool who deserves to be deceived. Daniel Brühl makes Alex's devotion persuasive, and Sass makes it possible to care for the mother without approving of everything he does.
The early leading roles in Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet (1979) and Bürgschaft für ein Jahr (1981) belong to a substantial career in East German film and theatre. Television work included Tanja Voigt in Polizeiruf 110 (1993–1998), before Heidi M. (2001) began her return to prominent film roles. Becker's comedy brought international recognition to an already experienced performer. It is worth keeping that longer career in mind when the mother threatens to become the only part we remember.
What we value in Becker's film is how little explanation Sass and Brühl need to make us care. Yann Tiersen's score supplies more tenderness than their performances require, and the voice-over tells us things the acting has already made clear. Peter R. Adam's editing also lets the complications run on too long; the premise cannot comfortably carry everything asked of it. It is still a funny, affecting comedy, but we would rather it trusted the actors to tell us when to care.
We would be wary of treating maternal parts as the limit of what Sass can do. The later television work includes Dunja Hausmann in Weissensee (2010–2015) and Karin Lossow, an unconventional former prosecutor, in Der Usedom-Krimi (from 2014). Start with Becker's film for the scenes between mother and son, allowing for a score that occasionally seems unwilling to leave them alone.
Biography
Katrin Sass, also credited as Katrin Saß, is a German actress. She was born on 23 October 1956 in Schwerin, then in East Germany. She trained at the drama school in Rostock and began her career on stage in theatres including those in Schwerin, Halle and Leipzig, while also appearing in DEFA films from 1979.
Sass gained prominence in the GDR for roles such as in Bis daß der Tod euch scheidet (1979) and won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1982 for Bürgschaft für ein Jahr. She became known internationally for playing the mother, Christiane Kerner, in the 2003 film Good Bye, Lenin!. Other notable credits include Heidi M. (2001), the series Weissensee (2010–2015) and Dogs of Berlin (2018). She has also appeared in the long-running series Polizeiruf 110.
