Out of range of analysis 

It came out in 1979. The Marriage of Maria Braun. Surely the stand-out movie among the three dozen plus made by the brilliant but doomed German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder. His muse in most of those films was Hanna Schygulla. Now, amazingly, and several decades on, she’s my latest guest on Talking Germany. I can remember precisely where, when and with whom I saw the film. And my rapture at this striding, cruel, unknowable, hurt and hurting woman. She was a diva, a sex symbol — and about a million miles from where I was. 

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Comedian and commentator

I was sitting in the make-up suite, waiting for her to arrive. And when she did it was with a loud volley of laughter. She’s funny, spontaneous, very relaxed and very straightforward. Might be something to do with the fact that she’s from the Rhineland, where the locals are proud of being a jolly lot. Maybe it’s because she is, as she tells me, into yoga. Not in a group, however, but on her own: “I don’t like naked feet on strangers.” She’s Cordula Stratmann, my latest guest on Talking Germany. 

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Could it happen here?

Many people here in Germany were quite shaken by the riots that engulfed London and other English cities this past August. They were, of course, also reminded of similar scenes in the banlieues – the volatile peripheries – of many French cities in recent years. As a British citizen living in Germany, I was often asked whether the same kind of outburst of anger and violence could happen here. My reply was a very cautious probably not. And my guess is that my latest guest on Talking Germany – the film-maker Yasemin Şamdereli– would agree, although it was the one question I didn’t actually get around to asking her during what was a very stimulating encounter. 

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No airs, no graces

My latest guest on Talking Germany enjoys successful acting and singing careers and there are times when, it seems, you can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine without Anna Loos and/or her ‘famous husband’ leaping out at you. Photos typically show “The Couple of the Year 2010” striding confidently to some special invitation event or up another red carpet. So when I heard that she would not be taking advantage of the exquisite Talking Germany make-up facilities, but arriving ‘ready to go’ … well, I was worried that we might be in for some airs and graces.

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