, known in English as Class Relations, in French as , is a 1984 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It is based on Franz Kafka's unfinished first novel, Amerika.
The German filmmaker Harun Farocki appears as one of the leads, and the film also features a cameo from American experimental filmmaker Thom Andersen.
Farocki made a documentary about the filming process, .
Cast
Christian Heinisch as Karl Roßmann
Nazzareno Bianconi as Giacomo
Mario Adorf as Onkel
Laura Betti as Brunelda
Harun Farocki as Delamarche
Manfred Blank as Robinson
as Heizer
Anna Schnell as Line
Klaus Traube as Kapitän
Georg Brintrup as Student
Hermann Hartmann as Oberkassierer
Gérard Semaan as Schubal
Jean-François Quinque as Stewart
Villi Vöbel as Pollunder
Style
As Franz Kafka never visited the United States, the film was shot in Europe, with the bulk of shooting occurring in Germany. The film features prominently architecture, flora and costuming (including a policeman in a bobby helmet) that is unlikely to be found in the United States. Only a handful of shots were shot on location in the United States, including the Statue of Liberty and the Missouri River. Though Huillet and Straub are both French, the film was shot in German, the book's original language.
The film was shot on black-and-white 35mm Kodak film stock by French cinematographer William Lubtchansky. Like all other Straub-Huillet films, it only uses location sound recorded at the same time as the image, emphasizing cinema's documentary nature over the pictorial.
Awards
The film was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival where it won an Honourable Mention.