Maria Brendle Debut Film on 1904 Trial, Modern Echoes

A historic Swiss legal case that is not just history but, too often, also present is the topic of German-Swiss director Maria Brendle’s powerful debut feature film Frieda’s Case (Friedas Fall). The 1904 murder trial of young seamstress Frieda Keller may have taken place in St. Gallen, Switzerland and may, despite its major impact, not be widely known. But Brendle took it on as a vehicle to tell a more global story of female emancipation, empowerment, and rights.

“It is a story about women’s rights,” she tells THR. “And it is based on real events in history in Switzerland, but we still have to deal with the same or similar issues around the world. This is not over.”

After its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival in October, Frieda’s Case, which Brendle co-wrote with Michèle Minelli and Robert Buchschwenter, will now screen in the main competition program of the 15th edition of the Beijing International Film Festival, which runs April 18-26. Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Let the Bullets Fly) will serve as the head of the main competition jury at the festival.

Frieda’s Case, produced by Condor Films along with Swiss Television SRF, revolves around Keller who is accused of murdering her five-year-old son. “Keller becomes the central figure in a high-profile legal battle that exposes the deep injustices of a patriarchal society,” explains a synopsis of the film. “Her case forces male prosecutors to confront personal and professional dilemmas that challenge their views on morality and gender equality. As the trial unfolds, public protests and media attention highlight the unequal treatment of women in the legal system. Frieda’s fight for justice becomes a symbol of the broader struggle for gender equality and a mirror reflecting societal hypocrisy and injustice.”

The key point: Keller was raped, but Swiss law at the time didn’t allow for a man to be prosecuted for rape if he was married.

Keller was sentenced to death, which was later changed to life imprisonment, and even later to an early release after 15 years in prison. The case, as the movie shows, helped mobilize the women’s movement in Switzerland and calls to make law and justice move closer together. And indeed, about three decades later, the criminal code was updated to not give married men this special status, and end the death penalty, among other things.

Julia Buchmann stars as Frieda Keller in the film about a local case that had much broader implications. Stefan Merki and Rachel Braunschweig play the prosecutor and his wife, and Max Simonischek and Marlene Tanczik portray Keller’s defense lawyer and his wife. Liliane Amuat, Susanne-Marie Wrage, Roger Bonjour, Peter Hottinger, Magdalena Neuhaus, Mirian Japp, Simon Roffler, Tina Perger, and Patrick Slanzi round out the ensemble cast.

Brendle wasn’t aware of the Keller case before working on the movie. “I didn’t know anything about this case,” she recalls. “But I got a call from the production company, and they said we have this story that maybe fits you.”

The producers had seen her short film Take and Run (Ala kachuu), for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 2022. Similarly to Frieda’s Case, the short dissects how social traditions affect and oppress women. In the case of the short, the young woman in focus lives in Kyrgyzstan and becomes the victim of a bride kidnapping.

Brendle was immediately excited about the chance to take on Frieda’s Case. “I immediately thought: ‘Yeah, I have to make this movie!’ It was a big opportunity for me because it’s a period piece and a true story about women’s rights.”

There was already a first script, she recalls. “I started rewriting it, with the other authors, because I think we need more good female characters in this world” and this specific story, the creative adds.

The character of Frieda was naturally challenging to write, especially because little is known about the actual woman. “When I heard about this woman who killed her child, my first thoughts were: ‘This is a monster.’ But what actually really interested me was this question: ‘Was she really just a bad person? Who is this woman, and what are her issues and her problems?’ And then I heard about the law back then that said when a man was married, the law was with him, because the anger of the wife is punishment enough. And I thought: ‘There are so many things to discuss and tell around that’.”

Telling the story of a woman held in jail before a court trial is, of course, running into limitations at some point. So, Brendle chose to go with flashbacks to better times and a scene where Frieda gets to leave her cell because she is needed to help serve food. “I wanted a way to show that this was a young woman with dreams and fun times, and a future,” she tells THR. “It was so important for me to bring her out of this cage. That allowed me to show that things could have been different if she had met a different guy, if he had married her, if some people had helped her, if things had just been a little different. She’s not only a murderer, she’s also a victim.”

There are scenes in Frieda’s Case that will make the audience want to get up and yell at the screen in anger or frustration with the society it portrays. And Brendle likes it that way. “I’m always trying to share my emotions with the audience,” she explains. “So when I learned what happened to Frieda, I was, of course, upset.” The same was true for the standing and treatment of women in that age.

Audience reactions have often been very emotional at screenings that the director has attended. “We had this cinema promo tour with 22 stops, and what happens with the audience is so overwhelming,” Brendle recalls. “People are sharing their family stories, sometimes in tears, and not only women, but also men.”

Frieda’s Case also screened at the Victoria Film Festival in Canada. “I was kind of nervous because it’s a different country, so you don’t know how people will react,” Brendle shares. “But there were so many emotions. And a lot of people said: ‘This film has to go to the U.S. because they are moving backwards so much right now in terms of women’s rights.’ I was really overwhelmed.”

Now, the filmmaker is “super-excited and honored” to be screening Frieda’s Case at the Beijing festival. “It’s such a big festival, and I can’t wait to see how the Chinese audience will react,” she says.

What’s next for Brendle? “I have two amazing stories coming into my life,” she tells THR. “I am writing another period piece about a woman in World War II” who is standing up to the Nazi regime. “I really like this ‘based on a true story’ thing because there are so many real-life stories that we can share and learn from. I think that’s really important to learn as a society and see what injustices and what mistakes we have made.”

The second project the writer and director can’t discuss yet. “But I hope both of them are going to happen very fast,” she adds.

Fans of Brendle will be looking forward to seeing what stories, and big lessons, from history she has to share in the future – no matter how small and local they may appear on the surface. Before she goes back to writing, the filmmaker shares some final insight on a brief scene in Frieda’s Case that also reveals a bigger issue on closer viewing. The scene shows demonstrators supporting the protagonist.

“On one of the demonstration signs, I put ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’,” which has become a global rallying cry for women in Iran and women’s rights around the world. “Of course, this is historically totally wrong,” says Brendle with a smile. “But this film is not about something that happened 100 years ago and is finished. As women, we still have to fight for our rights. So, this is a personal message from me as a filmmaker to all the women in this world.”