Actress Leonie Benesch perceives noticeable improvements in working conditions in the film industry for women due to the Metoo movement. However, there are still many building sites in the depiction of female characters, she said in an interview with the evangelical magazine “Chrismon”.
In the past, she often felt uncertain in male-dominated film productions, the actress said. Meanwhile, the work environment has changed: “As a young woman to say, that’s not what I want, that’s something I wouldn’t have dared to say before Metoo. After that, it became much easier.”
Although, there are still too few substantial roles for women, Benesch said. “Why are there so few stories about women over 45? Why have we as a society decided that they are not worth telling?” Men, even of higher age, are still more strongly represented.
However, the Hamburg-born actress now dares to demand more influence on the depiction of women in the productions she is involved in. “How are women portrayed? Is it exactly observed? Is it well-written? If someone writes a clichéd, silly, outdated picture of a princess, then I’m not interested.” She takes influence whenever she can, but prefers to trust the authors.
The actress also talked about the preparations for her latest film “Heroine”. In it, Benesch plays a nurse. The key to the character was for her a thorough familiarization with the everyday procedures: “My apartment in Zurich was full of syringes, liquids and tubes, so I could learn how to open them, how to assemble them, how to attach a catheter, until I could do the procedures in and out of my head.”
However, it is important to take regular breaks from the role. “If one talks all day, it can happen that one stops living in one’s body. To avoid this, it makes sense to move a lot in the morning and then to stretch and stretch in between.” Otherwise, one could become “a talking head in front of a shelf” the actress said.
Benesch has been active as an actress in film and television since 2007. She is known for her roles in the series “Babylon Berlin” and the film “The Classroom”. She won the German Film Award for best leading actress for the latter in 2023.