Everyone has their own path to follow. Some dedicate their life to the dramatic arts while some in the acting profession find their passion later in life. And for others, they discover and embrace their talents at an early age. For German actress Paula Beer, she was still a young child when she first became involved with the theatrical way of life. And it has paid off. She was barely a teenager when she scored her first big screen role. Now, the actress is a leading figure in both films and on television.
This month, let’s practice German with the films of Paula Beer!
Get to Know Paula Beer
Paula Beer was born on February 23, 1995, in Mainz, Germany. The only child was bitten by the acting bug early when, at the age of eight, she took a theater course. In 2007, Beer and her parents moved to Berlin. There she continued to study acting as well as dance. After receiving her Abitur, she moved to Paris.
Beer had an early start to her career. At 14, the aspiring actress beat out 2500 others who were auditioning for the lead role in the 2010 film Poll. Her performance in the film won her a Bavarian Film Prize for best up-and-coming actress.
Bad Banks
Jana Liekam (portrayed by Beer) is an ambitious young woman working in investment banking. After she is wrongly fired, she is quickly pulled into a scheme controlled by the head of her former company. Jana’s given her dream job in Frankfurt but everything comes with a price. And on the television series Bad Banks, everyone has their own designs on power and money.
The show has an international flair as it bounces around between Luxembourg and Frankfurt, among other spots. There is a mix of German, French, and English languages. Once you start watching Bad Banks, it can be difficult to stop!
In addition to Beer, the show also features Albrecht Schuch as Jana’s coworker Adam and Tobias Moretti who portrays Quirin Sydow, the chief financial officer of Deutsche Global Invest.
Bad Banks is available for streaming on Hulu.
Frantz
The 2016 French-German film Frantz is inspired by the 1932 film Broken Lullaby. In this modern take on the story, Paula Beer portrays Anna, a young German woman whose fiance has been killed in World War I. But Anna’s feelings are complex. While she mourns at the grave of her fiance, she encounters an unknown Frenchman who is also paying his respects. The man is a French soldier dealing with complex feelings of remorse.
The film is in black and white, a technique that adds to the character of the story.
Undine
Paula Beer stars as Undine in the 2020 film of the same name from director Christian Petzold. She suffers a personal setback when Johannes, the man she is having an affair with, decides to end things. She decides to play up the ancient myth of Undine, a water nymph. The human Undine tells Johannes she will have to kill him for leaving her.
When Undine begins a new relationship with Christoph (portrayed by Franz Rogowski), a professional diver. When he takes her diving with him, the water has a profound impact on Undine.
Practice practice practice! Discover other great German language actors and actresses previously featured.
Top photo by Christian Hartmann, courtesy Agentur Lambsdorff. This post contains affiliate links.
