Devil Hides In Doubt
by Eva Stotz
A film about the emotional push and pull of work
There is Franz, suing the company that has made him
redundant after 40 years.
Then, for nine months, he holds out in an empty office with
nothing to do.
There is Stephan who, for eight days and nights, sits on a
chair that is part of a giant billboard.
Selling yourself is sometimes the quickest way to pay your
debts.
There is Saskia, the high school graduate, learning how to
put together the perfect application.
There is Gunnar who is being taught that perceiving your
own body as trademark is the key to success. Franz finally
wins his lawsuit only to realise he has lost all the same.
SOLLBRUCHSTELLE – DEVIL HIDES IN DOUBT is a film about the
emotional push and pull of work, its demands and
absurdities, and the struggle for fulfilment.
Director's statement
The core of SOLLBRUCHSTELLE – DEVIL HIDES IN DOUBT ist not
the object of my reflections, but rather the process of
thinking in front of the eyes of the audience.
Upon my return to Germany, after spending some months in
Africa, I found my country seemed foreign to me in its
fixation on work, efficiency and discipline.
I decided to make a film about this Zeitgeist and to
reflect on the meaning of work in German society.
The linchpin was the case of a manager in the automobile
industry.
He had successfully filed a lawsuit against his unjustified
dismissal, yet he was not allowed to resume his former
position.
With treacherous tactics the company management did its
utmost to make him quit of his own will.
This man is my father and the film is likewise the
documented dissociation of a daughter as a director - in
quest of objectivity.