Die Legende von Paul und Paula

All that love stuff »is nothing but sweet talk«, Paula thinks, but that’s not the way it turns out.

Paula is dead, and her child is too. She dies from her deep devotion to a man named Paul, after an unwanted, and at the same time wanted, pregnancy leads to catastrophe. As unusual as this announcement for Die Legende von Paul und Paula, the GDR cult classic from the 70s, may sound, it reflects the bitter reality of the story. What seems like an epic love story at first glance, turns out to be a deeply toxic relationship upon closer examination. Although the film has been seen in a romantic light for decades, this new interpretation in the Berlin of the year 2025 from director Murat Dikenci, who is Studio artistic director as well, focuses on its destructive dependent relationships. This production not only illuminates the personal drama but also the societal structures which address love, dependence, loss and pain. He transforms the legend into an infatuation which exhilarates and destroys and is very difficult to escape.

»We’ll let it go on as long as it lasts … and not ask each other for all of that stuff.«

What was once Paula’s gentle suggestion during her first encounter with Paul now describes the fragile imbalance of modern situationships in a city which allows everything and promises nothing.

Premiere 13/December 2025

Photo: Esra Rotthoff