21/02/2024 - BERLINALE 2024: Josef Hader’s tragicomedy tells the story of a small-town policewoman who aspires to become something more, while running into unforeseen challenges

Seven years after partaking in the competition with his directorial debut, Wild Mouse [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Josef Hader
interview: Josef Hader
film profile], Josef Hader returns to the Panorama section of the Berlinale with his sophomore feature, Andrea Gets a Divorce [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. This time taking on a supporting role, as opposed to playing the main character in his debut, he recounts with an on-point sense of small-town life the hardships and challenges encountered by a female police officer.

Andrea (Birgit Minichmayr) is a sort of gunslinger, an island in a sea of curious countryside dwellers, in a place where, as her colleague Georg (Thomas Schubert) puts it, the “women move away and the men keep getting weirder”. A prime example of this kind of odd persona is her soon-to-be ex-husband, Andy (Thomas Stipsits). In a town where there is little to achieve and the only entertainment to be found is at the local pub, he merely settles while Andrea yearns for more. Hader has developed a more distinguished visual style since 2017, framing the remote village as a batch of run-down houses in a sea of green and brown fields, through which the country roads run like arteries or veins, a lifeline to what lies beyond.

It is here that Andrea kills time catching speed-limit violators, checking on the correct storage of guns or, tragically, observing the towing of dead cows from a stable after their death. The exodus from rural life, especially in the underdeveloped northern region, is not a recent phenomenon, and people like Andy are content with being a leftover. Andrea, however, wants to transfer to the regional capital, Saint Pölten. It’s small but would still represent a complete change of pace for someone who hands out speeding tickets to her primary-school friends and who is hit on by her own ex’s mates, since the dating scene does not offer much fresh blood.

When Andrea accidentally hits a drunk Andy on the street with her car, the poor devil is killed on the spot. Having a criminal record is not going to work in Andrea’s favour, and her transfer to Saint Pölten is in jeopardy. So, she does the one thing no upright representative of the law should do – a hit-and-run. But her worries about being identified fizzle out when, to her surprise, local RE teacher Franz (Josef Hader) identifies himself as the offender. A former alcoholic who has been sober for five years, he now plunges back into a spiral of drinking and excessive partying, all while Andrea is trying to cover her tracks and starting to feel the grip of guilt.

Hader abstains from casting a typical urban gaze upon his characters and their not-so-idyllic but still very settled life. He does not fall into the trap of using worn-out clichés – such as viewing them as dumb, slow country bumpkins – but instead allows more complex layering to shine through. This is a tight-knit community, reliant on each other. But they also have a fear of the unknown – it’s a place where people own guns and where refugees are the ultimate horror scenario, even if it’s likely that none of the residents has ever seen one.

Heavier, more profound moments merge quite well with the more comedic nuances that Hader manages to weave into the script, and this is a testimony to his story-telling sensitivities. After all, tragic and more wholesome times often go hand in hand in life. Andrea Gets a Divorce may occasionally seem a tad like fluff, but it does have something to say if you can look past the superficial comedy.

Andrea Gets a Divorce was produced by Wega Film Produktion (Austria) and is sold internationally by Pluto Film.