Wollis Paradies

Wolfgang “Wolli” Köhler is a Fassbinder-like character. A refugee from East Germany–yesterday, a porn cinema owner and brothel manager, quoting readily from Marx and Lenin, he defines himself as “a Bolshevik pimp”, and today, a poet and painter–he is one of the atypical figures of the German economic miracle much appreciated by the author of Lola. His life course even includes the famous episode of the civil servant in love with a prostitute who is determinedly to set her on the right path. When talking of his film, Gerd Kroske refers to Portrait of Jason. We find here the same acting talent and the same distant approach that previously made Shirley Clarke’s Jason a success. Filmed over one day and night in his tiny apartment in the Hamburg suburbs, together with his wife Linda, who has converted to esotericism, Wolli recounts with brio the picturesque and sordid steps in his unstoppable ascension, and the choices that ruled his destiny… from his refusal of the army to the rejection of capitalism, from women to his money hoarding foresight. If society sees him as a pimp, he prefers to see himself as a free and independent spirit, a father who worries about his “girls” future, in short, a benefactor for humankind, someone who hands out happiness whilst others stake their honour on trading arms or illegal food products. In a nutshell, a happy man. (Yann Lardeau)