B wie Bartleby

I would prefer not to – This sentence from Herman Melville's story Bartleby the Scrivener runs like a thread through Angela Summereder's new film: sometimes spoken clearly, sometimes hidden behind one of the many encounters and resulting stories. The cinematic exploration of refusal was originally a labour of love for Summereder's late partner Benedikt Zulauf, which she has now taken into her own hands and made her own. Starting with a visit to Melville's residence, where it becomes clear what roles women played in the poet's everyday life, she follows a wide variety of trails that keep the text, or rather the attitude underlying it, relevant in the here and now: doubting, struggling and always curious.
(Florian Widegger)