Felix Randau on I Is Another and the Stories We Tell About Ourselves
Felix Kersten, Heinrich Himmler’s massage therapist, claimed to have used his influence to save thousands of concentration camp prisoners. When filmmaker Felix Randau began researching a proposed series about Kersten’s heroism, he found a more complicated story.
Randau joins Brian Laffan to discuss I Is Another, starring Claes Bang as Kersten and Valerie Pachner as a journalist determined to challenge his account. Set aboard a train to Oslo, their encounter becomes a psychological struggle over evidence, guilt and reputation.
We explore how Randau’s research transformed the project, why Bang was his first choice, and how the actors helped reshape a crucial confrontation through improvisation. Randau also discusses his decision to portray Himmler without the familiar caricature, and the resistance that approach encountered.
The conversation extends to the stories people construct about themselves, the relationship between fake news and historical memory, and the challenge of bringing independent films to an audience.
In this episode: