Alexandra Maria Lara

The origins of Alexandra Maria Lara - recently named one of the most important German actresses on an international level - form a familiar-sounding European migration story. Born in 1978 in Bucharest, Alexandra was just a little girl when she and her parents fled from the Ceauşescu regime in 1983, going on to settle in Germany - first in Freiburg in the South-West, and afterwards in Berlin, where all three of them still live. As a four-year-old, Alexandra was quickly integrated and always felt welcome in Germany, as did her mother, a linguist, and her father Valentin Plătăreanu, former Vice-Director of the state theatre in Bucharest (it was he who installed the theatre school in Charlottenburg, Berlin, where his daughter would later take courses after obtaining her high-school diploma). Although she appreciates her origins, Alexandra feels German through and through, and is thankful that she had the chance to live a free childhood. She states that “no matter what happens to me and my career in the future, Berlin is always going to be my hometown”.

It was at the early age of 11 that she got her first role on TV. At 16, she played the main character in Mensch, Pia! and changed her last name from Plătăreanu to Lara. Various TV productions such as Der Tunnel and Napoleon followed, before the big breakthrough in 2004 when she played Traudl Junge, the secretary of Hitler (played by Bruno Ganz) in The Downfall. The wide success of the film made her internationally known and marked an important move from TV to cinema. From then on the amount of offers and her level of fame rose constantly. Nevertheless, she emphasises that she always wants to be open to every kind of role, be they small or major, in TV or in cinema. In the past few years she has been cast in German films such as Vom Suchen und Finden der Liebe (Helmut Dietl) and Der Fischer und seine Frau (Doris Dörrie), as well as international productions such as Control (Anton Corbijn), Youth Without Youth (Francis Ford Coppola), and The City Of Your Final Destination (James Ivory). She is currently working on Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (Uli Edel), The Dust of Time (Theodoros Angelopoulos) and The Reader (Stephen Daldry). Something of an amazing film list for a 29-year-old actress… This year Alexandra Maria Lara is returning to the Cannes Festival as member of the Feature Film Jury, where Control was presented last year.

There are many reasons for this success story - talent, hard work and modesty being the main ones. Her supportive parents, and of course the good luck of being spotted that early on for TV films, have also played an important role. The special quality of Lara’s performances is to be found in her understated facial expressions and gestures, and her tranquil, sometimes a little startled, disbelieving gaze. She is mainly engaged in strong female characters who are loyal, independent, optimistic and passionate (good examples being Annik Honoré, the lover of singer Ian Curtis in Control, or the successful Annette, who despite all her realism truly believes in fate and love in Nackt), but she plays all of these characters in a light and modest way, without confirming female character stereotypes. Her subtle method, concentrated on small details and emotions, demonstrates the strength of every personality she plays. Her beauty and dark brown eyes are certainly striking, and she gives every figure a certain kind of amiable charm. Nevertheless, in order not to be typecast and bring out other qualities, it would be exciting to see her in a darker, rougher role - daring to look drawn by life, wasted. There is no doubt that, given the opportunity, she would outperform here too.

Zsuzsanna Kiràly