Soul Sisters Bärbl [Films in Progress]

Bärbl is a wistful portrayal of a woman who possesses extraordinary talent but lacks in personal ambition, instead choosing to lavish her energies on those around her. She splashes in the water playfully with children, dutifully irons her boyfriend’s clothing, or lights up the stove to prepare him dinner. We also hear Lassnig remark upon the protagonist’s intense periods of sadness. as a result of her selflessness, Bärbl has a conflicted sense of self; she longs to be alone, but is often subsumed in the desires of her loved ones when they appear and make demands on her time. Tracing the arc of Bärbl’s bouts with depression, Lassnig observes that through such suffering, Bärbl has “developed a wisdom that astonished me.” (Jocelyn Miller)

Rough cut by Maria Lassnig. Color correction and final cut completed posthumously by Mara Mattuschka and Hans Werner Poschauko in accordance with Lassnig’s original notes from her notebook on film, “Optical Printer.” Soundtrack composed of voice-over recording made by Maria Lassnig and Anton Webern’s 6 Pieces for Large Orchestra, Op. 6 from the artist’s own music collection.

Digitization by the Austrian Film Museum. This film was preserved and restored by the Maria Lassnig Foundation in collaboration with the Austrian Film Museum.

In her notes, Maria Lassnig referred to her filmic portraits of women as “Soul Sisters.” These subjects are women she considers soulmates, and with whom she shared core affinities and character traits: a passion for art and nature, an absence of pretension, unvarnished directness in communication, and a stoic attitude towards life. Many "Soul Sisters" also appear in the artist’s drawings and paintings. Whether moving or still, these images are declarations of love, articulating treasured secrets shared between a sisterhood of like-minded women.