Navigating Freedom, Identity, and the Human Condition – In Conversation with Marie Kreutzer

By QueerFilmHub Editorial Team
Acclaimed Austrian writer and director Marie Kreutzer has established herself as one of contemporary European cinema’s most visionary auteurs. Known for her sharply observational style and visceral character studies—ranging from the corporate psychological tension of "The Ground Beneath My Feet" (Der Boden unter den Füßen) to her internationally celebrated, revisionist historical drama "Corsage"—Kreutzer excels at dissecting the friction between societal constraint and internal liberation.
In this exclusive Q&A with QueerFilmHub, Marie Kreutzer reflects on the illusion of societal perfection, stripping away historical myth, her collaborative process with actors like Vicky Krieps and Valerie Pachner, and why independent cinema’s unpredictability is its greatest strength in a changing world.
🏛️ On Psychological Complexity and IdentityQueerFilmHub: In works like The Ground Beneath My Feet (Der Boden unter den Füßen) and Corsage, your protagonists navigate tight, rigid structures—whether corporate or royal—while fighting for control over their inner identity. What draws you to characters who exist on the edge between social expectation and personal liberation?
Marie Kreutzer: Don’t we all exist on these edges? At least I do. I feel like I am constantly running to fulfill society’s expectations, and I never arrive anywhere „safe“. I am always torn between trying to be perfect and longing for an escape. Just like my characters, maybe.
👑 On Reimagining Historical and Contemporary FiguresQueerFilmHub: Corsage offers a remarkably refreshing, non-conformist take on Empress Elisabeth, stripping away the traditional myth. When adapting historical or real-life figures, how do you balance historical reality with artistic intuition and modern resonance?
Marie Kreutzer: When doing research for CORSAGE, I realized how much of what we call „history“ is an interpretation of facts, very much depending on who wrote it, and in what era or time it was written. So I freed myself from trying to capture anything „real“ and instead went fully into creating my interpretation.
I think the human experience is more or less universal anyway. Meaning no matter if you tell a story about an empress in the late 19th century, or a business consultant in 2018, we all have the same needs, the same pain, the same „human condition“: We were born and we will die and we are trying to make sense of it.
🎥 On Visual Language and AtmosphereQueerFilmHub: Your films have a distinct, precise visual style where set design, framing, and silence carry as much emotional weight as dialogue. How do you work with your cinematographers and production designers to build this tense, intimate atmosphere?
Marie Kreutzer: We share a lot of mood pictures throughout the process, trying to find a style we agree on, to the point where we all speak the same language about the film. I deeply care about making films look effortless, which, of course, requires a lot of effort. I don’t want to show off great locations or costumes. It’s always supposed to feel natural, like a real, inhabited world.
🎭 On Collaboration with ActorsQueerFilmHub: Your actors—such as Vicky Krieps and Valerie Pachner—deliver deeply vulnerable and powerful performances. How do you create a safe space on set that allows actors to explore such emotionally demanding terrain?
Marie Kreutzer: I simply trust them. I don’t micro-manage their performances. And I take away as much as possible off the technical requirements and limitations film actors are often confronted with, like marks on the floor, or having to move their head a specific way in order to catch the best light.
I also give them directions that have less to do with the scene but more with very basic human needs. The more „complicated“ a scene, the more I try to break it down to the most urgent goal of the character in the moment, which could be to make the other character look them in the eye, or them having to pee. I try to bring them into the moment, and forget the „big picture“.
🌍 On the Evolving Indie & Auteur CinemaQueerFilmHub: Independent European cinema is constantly navigating new challenges. Looking at today’s film landscape, what gives you energy or hope as a filmmaker, and what kind of stories do you feel are most vital to tell right now?
Marie Kreutzer: I think Independent Cinema will be stronger than Mainstream cinema, because it’s less plannable, less controllable, less likely to ever be made by AI. At least that’s what I hope. Independent Cinema is unpredictable, which is a strength at this time.
I worry a lot, of course, like every human awake at this time in our dramatically changing world. I have never been strategic as a filmmaker. I don’t know which stories people will want to see in two years. Nobody knows that. I can only come from what I care about.
What is your favorite Marie Kreutzer film? Let us know in the comments below! 👇