Dedicated - Review

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The Question of Good, Evil, and especially Truth! – Reflections on the Script of the currently in Post-Production Feature Film Project „Keep your Secret!“

In January, we conducted an interview with the PhD author and director Kristina Schippling about her current feature film „Keep your Secret!“, which is now in post-production. It was fascinating to hear how the versatile director is making her transition from university and art cinema to genre filmmaking. Kristina’s work was initially shaped by free and experimental art. Coming from an intellectual family background and growing up without any religiosity, she began writing early during her school years and performed as an actress on stage. This was followed by a long period of studying. She directed her first play at a free theater during her first semester. Numerous publications, books, articles, and even short films and music videos followed. Kristina also proved herself in professional environments in technical aspects such as editing and filming for years at the most renowned film festivals. Her first feature film „Ungleich“ is still heavily influenced by the art school context. It is a fictional story about a mental disorder, staged, acted, filmed, and post-produced by five performers. An impressive achievement. Here, the traditional division of tasks in feature film production was completely broken down, and the result is unusual and incredibly fascinating to watch.

Years later, with her first documentary feature „The Sound of Cologne“, Kristina demonstrates her full range of talent. She directed and filmed the project. She managed to get the most prominent composers, musicians, and DJs from Cologne in front of the camera. For instance, the band Can, who composed the music for Wim Wenders' films, is featured. Even special archival material from the inventor of electronic music, Karlheinz Stockhausen, is included. For the first time, Kristina ventures into a more classical narrative style—and she succeeds completely. She documents the story of electronic music in Cologne from its beginnings to the present day with skill. The structure is not only based on a chronological timeline, but also on carefully crafted thematic blocks that transition seamlessly into one another. The cinematic details reveal Kristina’s background in arthouse cinema. For example, the Cologne Cathedral at night is turned upside down and is artfully staged, with fluttering birds in the dark sky; antennas vibrate in interesting ways, and rhythmic editing works with music, featuring forward and backward clips – Kristina lets the audience immerse themselves in the motifs of a vibrant urban jungle. There are many artfully and unusually staged details that immediately show her roots in the experimental art scene. Nevertheless, with her first documentary feature, she left the realm of experimental art and successfully took the step into classical documentary filmmaking.

Finally, Kristina fully embraces the genre film with the horror-comedy „Monster on a Plane“. Here, she is one of the co-producers, shares the cinematography credit with director Ezra Tsegaye, and takes on the role of first assistant director. The feature film primarily is classic entertainment cinema. The experimental artist and philosopher seamlessly integrates into the horror genre, surprising her fans. Meanwhile, she continues to publish philosophical articles, works on her documentary „Regretting Motherhood“, a long-term study about the dark side of motherhood (even though Kristina herself has no children), and is also working on her philosophical audiobook series „Fliegengewichte“ and a scientific book on the study of East German philosophy, which she is co-writing with her mother and the philosophy professor Harald Seubert.

„Keep your Secret!“ is an independent feature film production. It is also worth mentioning that the long-established film producer Michael P. Aust comes from the background of film funding. When reading the script, it immediately becomes clear that Kristina Schippling is a successful writer and studied Germanist, and is currently working on her ninth book. In the following, we will take a closer look at the script of the feature film. (Warning! Spoiler Alert!) 

„Keep your Secret!“ follows the classic hero’s journey structure. The protagonist, Mary-Louise Hamilton, wants to prevent an unwanted pregnancy and take up a medical study position in Göttingen. She doesn't believe she can manage both—child and career—and at the beginning of the story, her decision is clear: she chooses her career and decides against the child. The journey of this pregnancy up until the birth of the child is told in the form of a hero’s journey in the film. The two central themes, the role of women in today’s society, and poverty versus wealth, take center stage and are closely intertwined. Each main character carries their own secrets, which are gradually revealed and act as key plot points, significantly influencing the tension. 

For example, Mary not only has the secret of her unwanted pregnancy but also an affair with Linus, her partner's best friend. She doesn’t even know who the father of the child is. Lilith's secret, on the other hand, is her existence as a vampire, who has been searching for redemption for 300 years. She believes in a conspiracy theory claiming that babies from holy families can redeem her from her vampiric existence. A secretion called adrenochrome from the pineal gland of such a baby's brain could, according to this theory, free Lilith from her eternally damned vampire life. Mary, in turn, bears the stigmata, the biblical marks of the wounds of Jesus Christ. She sheds bloody tears, believes she has an illness, and only realizes over the course of the plot that this anomaly can also be interpreted as a holy sign. Lilith hides her magical abilities, which she possesses because of her vampiric nature. What she has desired for hundreds of years is a family, the ability to trust once again. But every attempt at redemption ends in bloodshed.

The desires and hopes of the two women could not be more different: Mary wants to pursue a career, she dreams of elevating her social status, rejects the idea of starting a family, and views it as a hindrance to her career. Lilith, on the other hand, longs for nothing more than to be part of a family, yet she is estranged and incapable of building long-term relationships. In order to free herself from her cursed existence, she is willing to use any means— even killing holy babies. Thus, Mary's journey is one of acceptance and embracing her role as a mother, ultimately making the painful decision to give up her career and begin a new life as a medical student. The character development of Lilith takes a different direction. Elias, Mary's partner, manages to gain the trust of the vampire. Lilith, cold and distant, is used to seeing relationships fall apart around her. She experienced it multiple times. However, Elias manages to save Mary, himself, and the baby from the vampire by reaching her inner self and building trust. Without any supernatural powers, this is the only way to prevent Lilith from carrying out her cruel plans.

Thus, Lilith's character journey is about (re)learning to trust a stranger. It is no surprise that she starts setting fire to the apartment and puts everyone’s life in danger when she suddenly feels betrayed. Only by chance—Elias's misjudgment of her magical powers—does she realize that her trust has not been abused. Lilith’s journey is one of healing, but not in the way she has been trying for over 300 years. Elias shows her a different way.

Linus—Mary's lover and Elias's best friend—has everything. He became wealthy early on, but keeps it secret out of fear that it might change his relationships. He is well aware that his money could assure Mary with both: a family and a career. But he desires genuine love and doesn’t want her to choose him because of his wealth. Linus is talented, wealthy, young, and handsome. His situation could not be better, if it weren’t for Mary, his great love, whom he cannot have, and the conflict with his best friend. Mary, initially threatened by Linus in her relationship, unwittingly pushes him into Lilith's arms. But when it seems that the matchmaking is working, she suddenly realizes her feelings for Linus.

So, what character development and central theme does Linus’s role represent? Linus, unwillingly part of a lie and an affair, is made into a deceiver and an outsider. He cannot be carefree and open, he cannot fully engage with the bonds of his two friends because doing so would likely mean losing Mary completely and his best friend as well, causing everything to fall apart. Thus, he withdraws and stays out of everything. Nevertheless, he repeatedly has the deep desire to reconcile everyone. As the unwilling third part of the couple, he is drawn into a web of emotions, betrayal, and desire. His character develops from a closed-off, aloof young man hoping for the fulfillment of his love and secretly holding the key to solving Mary’s problems, which he cannot reveal to her because he doesn’t want to be loved for his money, into a dandy who holds the hearts of women in his hands and consciously breaks them because his own heart has been broken. In this "sinful" love game, he finally wins Mary’s heart officially at the very end. For a moment, the secret love affair is over, and he is happily united with his great love. But in the next moment, he pays for it with his life. Thus, the journey of this character is one of winning his great love but having to pay the ultimate price for it.

Elias, on the other hand, is the classic good guy. Plagued by guilt due to a tragic family history that amplifies his conscience, only family and moral values matter for Elias. He fights for the survival of the child, and he succeeds. His character, naïve and inherently good, must learn over the course of the story that not everyone is sincere and what dirty secrets his closest friend and his girlfriend carry. Elias grows beyond these dirty secrets about himself. After all the secrets are revealed, he initially wants to leave Mary, but when his best friend dies and pays with his life for his mistakes, Elias feels responsible for raising the child, no matter the cost. Elias does not lose his trust in the good in people, on the contrary, after all the tragic events, he wants to fight for his love and his new family even more, overcome his fears of loss, and convince not only himself but everyone involved. He does not allow himself to be broken or discouraged but develops, so to speak, supernatural powers of persuasion to do the right thing.

Kristina skillfully builds a chamber play that incorporates the genre element of the vampire. Interpersonal relationships are her specialty. The central theme of her feature film is the question of truth and, in connection with this, the question of good and evil. Good and evil are further intensified by the magical elements of holiness on the one side and the cursed vampire existence on the other. Kristina expertly intertwines the plotlines with countless references from literature, film, and art. She has already addressed these references in a previous interview. She repeatedly finds similar and associative motifs in art that harmoniously fit into her narrative and open up another layer of interpretation.

Thus, a central philosophical question emerges: What is good? Is good found in achieving a good and righteous goal, as Lilith attempts with the redemption from her vampire existence using the secret of adrenochrome? And as Linus tries, by exposing lies and fighting for true love? Does the end justify the means? Or is good perhaps found in good and righteous actions, as Elias tries to do by acting responsibly? Or is good even predetermined, like the holy sign of the stigmata, which is set in stone and not to be questioned, as in the case of the character Mary? The characters of Elias and Lilith also bring further reflections on the nature of good. Perhaps good is not tied to an action or a goal, nor to specific traits or origins, but it solely depends on compassion for others, on trust in others, on the ability to empathize with one another, to understand the other's suffering, and thus to make it one's own without creating further suffering. Elias’ character develops from the desire to do what is right to an understanding of Mary’s situation and her mistakes, thus coming to a decisive compassion for her and the child and being able to forgive. Through this, a new definition of goodness develops over the course of the story. Thus, the game of “spin the bottle” also involves a game of truth. The concept of truth is closely connected to moral goodness. Lies or secrets are linked to notions of evil or badness. Not without reason does Kristina end her film with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, placing love and actions out of love outside any moral system. This can be applied to Mary’s situation with the affair, but also to Linus's role, who, from hidden love, engages in new love and games with jealousy and boundaries of pain. It can also be interpreted for Lilith, who was once part of the holy family and even gave birth to a holy baby before she became a vampire. This motif is classic and biblical, reminiscent of Lucifer, the fallen angel. Thus, Mary’s desire for a different life, a better social status, also contains the question of evil. Is she selfish during these moments, or does her body belong to herself and herself alone? Kristina doesn’t answer the questions but asks the right ones. The characters are multifaceted, complex, and thus all the more authentic. She skillfully portrays authentic young people confronted with current political and social issues. She cleverly intertwines the tension of the plot with the themes and character development. The story ends ambiguously. At first, it seems like a happy ending for the couple, yet Mary has to give up her academic aspirations, and Elias finds himself being betrayed. Lilith’s desire for a family, after overcoming her distrust, also ends in disappointment. It’s a multifaceted ending with many thought-provoking questions, offering space for philosophical reflection.

In an earlier interview with the Paris Film Awards, Kristina already addressed some of the references, quotes, and clues embedded in the screenplay. Here, verses from Goethe’s „The Sorcerer’s Apprentice“ (from the scene of enchanting the broom) or film quotes like the use of the pet names „Honeybunny” and „Pumpkin” from the cult film „Pulp Fiction“ are notable. Then, of course, there are Bible quotes and the scandalous novel by José Saramago, „The Gospel According to Jesus Christ“, which features a well-known painting by Cranach, „Christ as the Man of Sorrows“, on its cover and alludes to the stigmata that play a crucial role in the screenplay. Like Saramago’s book, the screenplay also depicts saints as human, with all their flaws and weaknesses. Additional quotes and references from the play „Spring Awakening“ have been aptly incorporated into the screenplay. The images on the walls of the shooting locations are handmade by the two directors (Kristina Schippling and Ezra Tsegaye) and allude to the secrets of the main characters. Kristina had a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s short story „The Tell-Tale Heart“ in mind, where the killer believes they can hear the heart of the murdered person beating loudly beneath the floorboards since the body was hidden underneath. Likewise, everything hidden, all the lies, and all that cannot be spoken of should hang on the walls. The main character, Mary, is a reference to the Christian mother Mary. And thus, the second woman, who is expecting a holy child, is aptly named Mary-Claire. Lilith has found another holy family that is supposed to bring her salvation. All the character names are carefully chosen with consideration of their meanings.

The central question of good and evil is further emphasized through the characters—the saints on one side and the demons or vampires on the other. As mentioned before, the screenplay ends with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: “Everything that is done out of love is beyond good and evil.” Nietzsche, with his philosophy of the revaluation of all values, captures the genealogy of morality and shows how, from the prevailing value system of „good and bad” (where good is associated with the wealthy class and bad with the simple, the poor), a new Christian value system of „good and evil” develops. The philosopher derives these moral concepts from the linguistic origins of the German words „good, bad and evil“. In this process, a revaluation of values occurs, as the pursuit of luxury and goods is now seen as evil. But actions born of love, such as Lilith’s illegitimate child born of forbidden love, are exempt from any moral system. Actions done out of love happen beyond moral value systems.

Other, still unmentioned quotes can be found in the screenplay. For example, the folk song “Ich hab' die Nacht geträumet” (I Dreamed the Night) is cited. The dream as a premonition of misfortune aligns associatively with the hallucination of the character Elias, who sees his deceased brother again. The fairy tale of „Rumpelstiltskin“ is also referenced. Rumpelstiltskin helps the princess in need to spin straw into gold, but in exchange, she must promise him her firstborn child. The fairy tale is full of secrets. Why is no one allowed to know Rumpelstiltskin’s name? What does he want with the princess’s child? Lilith uses verses from „Rumpelstiltskin“ to hint at the next planned murder of the baby from the holy family, the baby of the police officer's wife. Kristina also quoted her own short film “This is my body”. Whenever Lilith goes hunting, the very special, metaphorical language from her own first short film can be found.

Many more interpretations could be added. It is immediately apparent from the screenplay that this is the work of a successful writer. A keen sensitivity for human relationships, for interesting, multifaceted characters, for exciting dramaturgy, and philosophical questions woven into the narrative make the currently in post-production film project „Keep Your Secret!“ incredibly intriguing and leave much promise for a captivating film.

Poster: Ezra Tsegaye / Photos from the movie shoot: Nicolai Froundjian

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