Year: 2024

Runtime: 110 minutes

Writer/ Director: Kat Rohrer

Actors: Proschat Madani, Caroline Peters, Heikko Deutschmann, Gohat Nurbachsch, Barbara Spitz, Allegra Tinnefeld, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Anton Noori

By Sarah Manvel

“What a Feeling” is a midlife crisis movie that doesn’t take itself seriously. It is also an immigrant love story set in Vienna, and only after that is it a gay film – not a welder by day, dancer by night in sight. It manages to maintain its comedic tone while always taking the characters’ responsibilities seriously and never letting excusing their flaws, which also makes it a movie by and for adults. There’s even a blooper reel over the end credits, unusual for a movie shown at BFI Flare. But wherever it’s shown it’s a goofy delight from start to finish.

Farida Safir, known to all as Fa (Proschat Madani), is a carpenter who meets Marie Theres Wallner, known to all as Resi (Caroline Peters) when she nearly runs her over in an intersection. No one is hurt, which is good, as Resi is off to an anniversary dinner with her husband Alexander (Heikko Deutschmann), while Fa is on her way to a party organised by her judgmental elderly mother (Gohat Nurbachsch). But Alexander is having a midlife crisis and dumps Resi, who gets so drunk she ends up staggering – Ms Peters does excellent clownish physical comedy throughout – into a lesbian bar run by the British Bigi (Barbara Spitz). Fa is enjoying a whiskey there as a reward for scaring off a potential suitor arranged by her mother and ends up talking to Resi in spite of herself. The next morning Resi wakes up on her sofa with her teenage daughter Anna (Allegra Tinnefeld) scolding her. And that would have been that, except Vienna is a small town, so when Mrs. Safir takes a bad fall she ends up on the hospital ward where Resi is the doctor. 

Fa is a consummate player, introduced between the legs of a married woman, and perfectly happy to sleep with these no-strings, as emotions and commitment are not for her. Ms Madani knows how to keep Fa’s confidence and charm from shading into arrogance, which is extremely appealing. Meanwhile Resi is beside herself now she’s single again. Fa knows exactly who is she and what she likes, while Resi really doesn’t. So it’s not that Resi is discovering her sexuality, it’s that she’s discovering her sexual appetites full stop. And Resi is a doctor, used to handling people at their nervous worst and to assess tricky family dynamics at a glance. Fa is used to compartmentalising, except Resi’s job with her mother makes that impossible. 

But both of them start to change as they make their tentative steps towards each other. Fa does empowering raps at the bar’s open mic nights, and is very open about her desires, up to a limit. She has an overbearing sister named Samira (Nicole Ansari-Cox) and a gentle giant of a brother named Djamshid (Anton Noori), who clearly has spent decades keeping his mouth shut as the women bicker. Djamshid is also the only person outside of Bigi’s bar who knows about Fa’s sexuality, and he’s as kind and supportive as a brother can be. The family fled Iran when the siblings were children and life in Vienna has caused them to cling tightly to each other, and when Resi learns about it she can relate. She’s German herself and well used to hearing her nationality blamed for every single thing she does at her hospital. The unpleasant world of the hospital is something Resi doesn’t think she has the power to change, but Fa asks a few questions and something shifts. And it’s Anna who’s also aware of the current political situation in Iran even though she won’t do her homework since climate change has rendered it pointless. So the way it all folds together is elegant and actually pretty sweet.

Martin Gellner’s cheerful music emphasises the fun and Michael Schindegger’s cinematography is clean and approachable, while Ruth Schönegge’s editing keeps things light and brisk. Director Kat Rohrer, who also wrote the script, has directed feature-length documentaries and short fictional films before, but this is her first feature film, though things are so confidently done you’d never have known it. Life really is just one thing after another, which “What a Feeling” understands better than most. All that matters really is the friends you make along the way, and it’s so refreshing to see a movie which is as grown up as its characters about how we must adapt to the changes which come to us all.