Behind Locked Doors

Berlin, an old apartment building between the S-Bahn and the street. Seventeen people live there. The old photographer Kempinski, shrouded in his memories. Hannelore, dreaming of distant lands, temporarily sharing her apartment with her lovesick niece. Bona, who occasionally drinks a beer with his roommate and teaches French in the kitchen. The two teenage sisters with their newly in love mom. The medieval caretaker couple and the young couple whose daughter Paula would rather sit in the stairwell than go to school. On the face of it, they all have nothing in common apart from their home address. The film tells in microscopically accurate, realistic visual language and on changing levels of the common everyday life of small people.

Directed by Anka Schmid, Behind Locked Doors leans on a strong ensemble — Volkhart Buff, Sonja Deutsch, Maria Fitzi — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1991.