Production is under way for Aron Lehmann’s Lügen über meine Mutter at Munich’s Bavaria Studios. The film is adapted from a bestselling 2022 autofictional book by German author Daniela Dröscher, which was nominated for the German Book Prize. Filming began in Bavaria on 17 March and will continue there until 1 April before moving to the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate for further shooting. The final day of production will occur on the Adriatic Sea.

The screenplay is by Rosalie Thomass, best known as an actress; she will also play one of the leading roles. The film’s cast is rounded off by Golo Euler, Elise Lindner, Juliane Köhler, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Johanna Gastdorf and Rainer Laupichler. Cristian Pirjol serves as the cinematographer; he also worked as the DoP on Lehmann’s The Last Pig [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], which also starred Euler and Thomass.

The story, the title of which could be translated as “Lies About My Mother” (while also alluding to wordplay that betrays the complexity of its themes), is set in 1980s West Germany, where a woman named Cornelia is at the mercy of her husband Werner’s expectations about her body. The work is recognised as a fictionalised version of the family of Dröscher herself, whose role is portrayed in the novel through a young girl named Ela, who witnesses the control her father has over her mother’s weight.

In a statement, Thomass and Lehmann said the following about the project: “Daniela Dröscher’s moving novel serves as an inspiring template for a poetic, cinematic journey in which we always look at the world through the eyes of the child Ela. This gives us an artistic licence that corresponds to the protagonist’s powerful story of liberation […]. This is one of many female stories that we have so far withheld from our audience. It's time to change our perspective, finally break with our usual viewing habits and tell the stories of all of our previously hidden heroines.”

Producers Timm Oberwelland and Sebastian Zühr, who staged Lehmann’s Hunting Season and The Most Beautiful Girl in the World [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], have also shared their comments on the film: “We are delighted to finally be working with the creative team of Rosalie Thomass and Aron Lehmann again. From the very beginning, we saw in Lügen über meine Mutter a story fit for the big screen, in terms of both content and visuals: that of a woman seeking her own path. Her struggle for more self-determination and dignity is touching and inspiring – and it shows how much courage it takes to defy personal and societal expectations.”

Lügen über meine mutter is a German production by Munich-based TOBIS Kinoproduktion in co-production with ZDF, and is supported by FFF Bayern, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, the Medienförderung RLP, the DFFF and the FFA. TOBIS Filmproduktion holds the German and Austrian theatrical rights, with the film slated to be released in 2026.