| Film Journal International
Escape to Life: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story
Cast: Voices of Vanessa Redgrave, Corin Redgrave
Credits: Written and directed by Andrea Weiss, Wieland Speck.
Produced by Greta Schiller, Thomas Kufus. Director of photography:
Uli Fischer. Edited by Weiss, Prisca Swan. Music by John Eacott.
A Jezebel Prods. production.
Two little-known figures are magically revealed in this
intriguing moving documentary.
Escape to Life is an enthralling documentary about Klaus
and Erika Mann, the children of Thomas Mann, directed by Andrea
Weiss and Wieland Speck. Born a year apart, they often pretended
to be twins and, indeed, shared much besides their unconditional
love for each other. Both gay, both artists, they struggled
to establish their own identities in spite of their father’s
awe-inspiring reputation. The film’s title refers to
their exile from Nazi Germany in America. Klaus’ novels,
with their racy depiction of a joyously libertine Weimar Germany,
and Erika’s cabaret performances, which satirized Nazis,
were banned and their citizenship revoked. A rift was formed
with their father, when Thomas, mindful of his reputation,
initially avoided speaking out against their enemies (until
he, too, was forced into exile.) And the relationship of the
“twins” became strained by the pressures of life
in America (the FBI was on their tail), Klaus’ drug
addiction and Erika’s reestablishing close contact with
Thomas.
Weiss and Speck capture the rich, turbulent tapestry of
the Manns’ lives. Vanessa and Corin Redgrave –
also politically involved, artistic siblings – play
the siblings on the soundtrack, which crackles with their
easy camaraderie and wit. The last of Thomas Mann’s
six children is interviewed, her love and compassionate sympathy
for her siblings still very evident. One of the fascinating
subjects touched upon here is the unseemly attraction Thomas
felt for the beautiful Klaus from childhood, which calls up
his own Death in Venice. Other amazing revelations rumble
forth: Erika acted in Leontine Sagan’s legendary lesbian
film, Maedchen in Uniform. She obtained her British citizenship
by marrying W.H. Auden. She was eventually, ironically, hounded
out of America by Joe McCarthy. Klaus, a pacifist, nonetheless
enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight the Germans in World War
II. Erika, the more outgoing one, had some fascinating lovers,
including the great Brecht actress Therese Giehse. Klaus,
who committed suicide at age 43, was, sadly, never able to
establish any longstanding relationships and once wrote, “The
difficulty of being weighs on me every hour.” Speck
directs some intriguing recreations of scenes from Klaus’
books, which fully presage Christopher Isherwood’s more
famed Berlin Stories.
--D.N. |
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