The Mouth – Our Ultimate Prison | Das letzte Loch ist der Mund

feature film full HD stereo 90 min Klaus E. Dietl: screenplay writer, director, editor Stephanie Müller: actress, costume and set designer, musician, best lady

premiered in July 2017 – Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany

The Mouth – Our Ultimate Prison offers a critique of language as a means of communication and it poses questions about the paradoxes of lying, especially in the penal system.

"It is a film about the creativity that is inherent in human falsehood. Thus it is a film about the brutality of truth. I'm absolutely in the know of it, because of my own two-facedness: on the one hand being a film critic and on the other hand being a State's attorney."

(Dr. Dietrich Kuhlbrodt, former State's attorney and part of Christoph Schlingensief's cast)

The full length feature is an art film in the guise of a crime story. Its protagonist is a young man who calls himself Jakob Fisch.

"The fish is hungry. It catches an isopod and eats it. But even before the fish manages to swallow the isopod, the tiny parasite strikes back. It quickly eats the tongue of the fish. Within a few seconds, just a small frazzle is left over. The parasite clasps this last bit of the tongue. So whenever the fish catches some food and tries to eat it, the parasite is faster. It eats whatever the fish catches. Of course, the parasite doesn't take everything. There will always be a little bit of food left for the fish, just to make sure that it won't die and keeps on catching food. Food for itself, and for its parasite. The parasite takes care that its host survives. Language is like such a parasite. It enables the movement of the host's tongue. However, the parasite foots the bill in the end: it has to speak up."

(quotes from The Mouth – Our Ultimate Prison)

Fisch admits to murders which he has never commited, while police psychologist Dr. Alea Anzu fabricates a 'mirror theory' to account for inconsistencies and contradictions in his story. At the same time, there is a reverse narrative involving the murder of a policeman. The story is loosely based on the true case of Thomas Quick, who exposed the Swedish justice system between 1992 and 2014.

All costumes are created by Stephanie Müller. In summer 2015 she found a discarded suitcase nearby the waste glass containers in her hood. The suitcase was full of used German police uniforms, badges included. This rare find paved the way for the unique costume and set design.

Videos: Mediendienst Leistungshölle

Links and press voices

Das letzte Loch ist der Mund (2017) (International Movie Database)
Besprechung: Das letzte Loch ist der Mund - Wort ist Mord! (Artechock)
Filmvorführung »After the Fact. Propaganda im 21. Jahrhundert« (Lenbachhaus)
Filmtipp des Tages - Münchner Abgründe (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
MF News: »Das letzte Loch ist der Mund« feiert Premiere (Münchner Feuilleton)
"Ich sage ich lüge!" – Filmpremiere von "Das letzte Loch ist der Mund" im Lenbachhaus (Mucbook)
Filmpremiere "Das Letzte Loch ist der Mund" @ Lenbachhaus (Mucbook)

Screenings

Photos: Mediendienst Leistungshölle

Cast:

Patrick Schimanski, Friedrich Boomgaarden, Martin Krejci, Matthias Stadler (Tam Tam), Thomas Glatz, Peter Wacha aka Upstart (Disko B, Chicks On Speed Records, Rote Sonne), Dirk Wagner, Tobias Ruhland, Gerhard Lassen, Fabienne Pakleppa, Moni Kliche (OK Decay, Queerthing), Clarissa Pilz, Bernadette Stadler, Tina Griffith, Lisa Simpson aka Agente Costura, Michael Jandejsek (Luftschiffhalle Lustheimstrasse), Sven Schwarz, Tina Täsch, Hermann Schlampp, Irena Ruseva, Martina Oberprantacher, Tanja Baar, Muska Nadem, Ramona Sadean, Keiko Saile, Florian a. Betz, Mirjam Ledl, Fabian Zweck, Melanie Müller, Susanne B. Schmitt, Leonie Siebert