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REVIEW

A delux treat for the hostess with the mostess

As Christmas nears, Kathleen Harman feels under pressure to be the perfect hostess. A trip to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Stockholm was a good way to get some tips.

Published: 16 November 2007 19:12 CET

Tipping Point

I am approaching the Christmas season with all the joyous anticipation of a well fed turkey. But as Rudyard Kipling would say, if he were a Swedish feminist, if you can keep your head while all those around you are losing theirs, then you are real woman.

I don’t quite know how it happened, but on Christmas Day I appear to be catering for the world and his wife, all meaningful and casual relationships in between, not to mention a supporting cast of sugar-crazed toddlers, who will no doubt be marauding and pillaging their way around my apartment while their parents wade deeper and deeper into egg nog oblivion.

I admit to being somewhat out of my depth in organising such a big event so I went out and bought Micael Bindefeld’s book ’Fest’ (Party), a glorious tome packed full of advice on how to throw the perfect bash. Mr Bindefeld is Sweden’s top party organiser and he has certainly turned entertaining into an art form.

It became clear from the outset that I have an awful lot to learn: my idea of ‘casual’ dining usually consists of a mountain of something out of a packet, a cool box-full of beer and the obligatory wine box. For Mr. Bindefeld, a relaxed supper means co-ordinating cuisine, porcelain and flower arrangements. My idea of ‘formal’ is basically the same catering theme as my ‘casual’ menu, but with the inclusion of paper napkins and cutlery. Mr Bindefeld’s, on the other hand, involves ostrich feathers, candelabra and ice sculptures.

There is an entire chapter devoted to explaining the importance of beautifully hand-written invitations as a way of expressing both one’s regard for one’s potential guests and to give a glimpse of the treat awaiting them at the actual event. I realise now, too late, the sheer rudeness on my part of having used a hastily typed email instead of rickshaw courier to convey my invitations. It will serve me right if I am left all alone to babysit the army of sugar-crazed toddlers while their parents dash off to spend Christmas Day with an all together more glamorous and deserving hostess.

After having read ‘Fest’ from cover to cover, I am now aware that I must make more of an effort in terms of general décor. I don’t think that my collection of multi-coloured baubles from IKEA and a wind up dancing Santa as a centrepiece is really going to cut it. Instead, I’m going to have to plump for black and um, more black, for my jolly sophisticated Christmas colour scheme.

Likewise, if I want to do this entertaining thing properly, I do need to cast a more critical eye over my friends and anyone who is found to be lacking in the aesthetics department will either have to be uninvited (by rickshaw courier) or be asked to go and sit in another room and watch a dvd with the marauding army of sugar crazed toddlers.

And I do need to take a leaf quite literally out of Micael Bindefeld’s book when it comes to being a calm, sleek and gracious host . The photos in his book show him tweaking the odd place setting or handing around exotic nibbles while managing to look cool and handsome and smiling all at the same time. I, on the other hand, will be a frazzled, sweating wreck, gritting my teeth while repelling the marauding army of sugar crazed toddlers with a wooden spoon and a saucepan lid, cursing the fact that my new Vivienne Westwood dress is completely covered in indelible turkey fat.

With Christmas being just around the corner, I thought I had better do some homework into the art of being a gracious host so I took myself off to lunch at Lux, Stockholm’s Michelin-star restaurant, to see the experts at work. I had heard great things about this place but when I was tipped off by a friend that you can get a two course husmanskost (traditional Swedish) lunch for 110 kronor, it did seem almost rude not to investigate further.

The restaurant is located by the water on Lilla Essingen , looking back down Lake Malaren in the direction of City Hall. The name ’Lux’ has nothing to do with ‘Luxury’ as I had first thought, but rather it is short for Electrolux, which used to have a big factory on the island. The restaurant itself is in the building that housed the company canteen and it has retained a very unostentatious style…apart from the beautiful arched windows that look out on to the waterfront, the décor is really quite unobtrusive, with the food clearly being the focus of the dining experience.

And just as Micael Bindefeld says, it is the attention to detail that makes the difference. Our tradition pea soup was ladled out from a tureen beside the dining table, rather than being sloshed in bowls from the kitchen. It came with three different types of grain mustard on the side. The garnish of ham, onion and sausage was presented in a separate casserole dish and the staff were so attentive that we really felt special.

Even the restrooms had little toothbrushes, which is really thoughtful – especially if you’ve had a bit of a garlicky lunch and have got to go back to a cramped office. Your colleagues will thank Lux for that particular addition.

So, Lux was a lovely experience, both in terms of food and service, and one that I cannot recommend too highly. If only I could remain a guest forever, but alas no. I’d better be off to practise my ice sculpture whittling and toddler repelling techniques.

‘Fest’ by Micael Bindefeld, ISBN 978-91-27-02590-5

Lux Stockholm, Tel: 08-619 01 90, Address: Primusgatan 116, 112 67 Stockholm, www.luxstockholm.se (see website for daily ‘husman‘ special).

FILM

Five films that shaped the GDR’s legacy – and what east Germans think of them today

Nearing the 30 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we explore how five films compare to the real East Germany and how east Germans feel about these portrayals of their former state.

Published: 25 September 2019 15:49 CEST
Five films that shaped the GDR's legacy - and what east Germans think of them today
In 2017, 'Goodbye Lenin' was screened in Berlin living rooms "ostalgically" designed to look like those in the GDR. Photo: DPA

A generation ago, the East Germans led a peaceful revolution as the Berlin Wall collapsed, and shaping Germany into the country it is today. With the reunification of Germany came the end of the GDR, along with all of its horrors and all of its unique charms.

For the majority of the world, the main means of accessing GDR history and the unique experiences of its population is through art. More specifically: film. 

GDR themed films make up a large chunk of Germany’s most internationally renowned films. The Local spoke with Dr Jochen Staat, a political scientist and GDR specialist at Free University in Berlin, about how these films are thought of in former East German.. 

Goodbye Lenin 

Wolfgang Becker’s ‘tragicomedy’ follows Alex Kerner, a young East Berliner who tries to conceal the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the GDR from his staunch communist mother after she wakes up from a coma in order to prevent the shock of the news causing her a second heart attack.

Goodbye Lenin is arguably one of the most iconic German films, with almost every German language student watching the film at least once, or studying it in class. It’s a César winner and it’s both Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated.

The film captures East Germany through the lens of Ostalgie (nostalgia for the GDR) and shows the audience how becoming part of a capitalist Germany wasn’t as easy as putting up Coca Cola banners and opening a Burger King.

According to Staat, Goodbye Lenin was widely well-received by those in the former East Germany because it cleverly creates its own unique world. We don’t see the real East Germany, but rather we see Alex’s East Germany, the country he imagined and dreamed of as a child.

Through the opposing perspectives of Alex and his mother Christiane, we are offered an insight into the differing perceptions of the GDR according to generation, granting an East German audience multiple avenues to connect with Becker’s characters.

Sonnenallee (Sun Alley)

Sonnenallee is a coming of age comedy, released in 1999, about growing up in East Germany. For these “Eastie Boys”, illegal music from the West is an essential aspect of teenage rebellion. 

The question of whether Sonnenalle, a comedy, does justice to the brutality of the East German regime has been up for debate for 20 years. In a review for

Der Spiegel, Marianne Wellershoff stated that the film glorified the GDR and played down the negative aspects of life in East Germany under Erich Honecker.

READ ALSO: Honeckers: the most powerful family in former East Germany. What happened to them?

However, Staat pointed out that the film was well-received by East German viewers, and it is set towards the latter period of the GDR, when the regime was losing control over the population. 

He notes that the character Wuchsel, who lives and (almost) dies by the Rolling Stones, is particularly relatable for a generation of former East Germans, who like him would scour the black market to find copies of records from the West.

Despite its lighthearted approach, there are moments in Sonnenallee that reminds the audience that life in the GDR isn’t all rock music and house parties, such as when Mario, another of the boys, is forced to sign up for military service in order to support his family.

And, when Wuchsel is shot by a border guard, surviving only because the bullet gets lodged in his Rolling Stones LP, it highlights how music really was lifeline for some East German youth.

READ ALSO: How the Stasi failed to silence Rolling Stones fans in East Germany

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

Das Leben der Anderen focuses on the imposing presence of the Stasi in 1980s GDR, as Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) spies on a playwright before he becomes increasingly sympathetic to his struggle.

In Western eyes, a film about the horrors of the Stasi and the suffering that took place across East Germany would probably seem more historically accurate than comedies such as Goodbye Lenin and Sonnenallee.

However, Staadt, emphasises that every perception of the GDR is subjective and former East Germans would connect with films that most accurately reflect their experience.

For those who were teenagers when the Wall came down, and lived as the Regime lost its grip on the public, a comedy would potentially be more relatable. However for those who suffered at the hands of the Stasi and experienced the Regime during its earlier and tougher days, Das Leben der Anderen would probably be a harrowing watch that is uncomfortably close to home.

Staat stated that because they are an “easier” watch, it is generally the comedies that are most widely viewed in the former GDR.

Deutschland ’83

Though not a film, Deutschland ’83 is the first German language series to air on a US network and is the most popular foreign language drama in the history of British television. The internationally successful series tells the story of a young East German, Martin Rauch, who is sent to West Germany to spy on behalf of the Stasi’s foreign intelligence agency.

Unlike the other films in this list, Deutschland ’83 doesn't focus particularly on East German life, rather dedicates equal amounts of airtime to both the Western and Eastern sides of the Wall.

Not only does this grant the audience access to both sides of a divided Germany, Staat highlights that viewers also experience varying levels of conflict through the drama. He explained this was key to the programme becoming a “sleeper hit” with viewers across Germany.

Whilst the series is based around political conflict on a wider scale, small-scale familial and personal conflicts plays a large role in the storylines. For example, the AIDS crisis and infidelity are just two of many personal issues to affect the politically-charged characters in the series.

Barbara 

In the 2012 film Barbara, life in rural East Germany is depicted, rather than city life in East Berlin. The title character is a doctor who formerly worked in the prestigious Charité hospital in East Berlin, but is transferred to a rural hospital by the Baltic Sea as a punishment from the State after applying to leave for the West. She is still monitored by the Stasi, even in this small town.

Staat highlights that Barbara’s situation wasn’t unusual for former East Germans, and its one that many from the former East Germany can relate to.

It was an ongoing and increasing problem for the GDR’s economy across its existence that many of its skilled workers were lost to the more-attractive seeming West, if they were willing to go through the tedious but possible process of an “Ausreiseantrag” (an application to leave the GDR).

For those applying to leave, they’d typically face social exclusion and denunciation, much like in Barbara’s experience, both as a punishment and as a deterrent to others. 

What does the future look like for GDR focused films?

By remembering the GDR through iconic, classic films such as Goodbye Lenin, Das Leben der Anderen and Sonnenallee, Staat stated, it means we focus on the latter period of the GDR, the late 70s and 80s when the films were set.

A possible explanation for the tendency to set films in the late GDR is the this is the GDR that directors remember. The directors of these three films either weren’t alive, or were children, during the earlier half of the GDR in the 50s and 60s, when the regime was stricter and life was harder.

Whilst these iconic films are a means of accessing the history of a country that no longer exists, it’s important that we don’t forget the earlier history of the GDR.

There are newer films about the GDR, such as Der Zukunft Zugewandt (Facing the Future), set in 1952, about a woman’s arrival into the young GDR from a Soviet labour camp. Films such as these are bringing the GDR’s earlier days to greater international attention, and could well play a significant role in the future of German cinema. 

 
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