Martina Gedeck, the female lead in the Oscar-winning German film The Lives Of Others, has been cast as the pianist and composer Clara Schumann in Helma Sanders-Brahms long-gestating biopic Clara which will commence principal photography in Hungary at the end of May.

The $6.4m (Euros 4.7m) German-French-Hungarian co-production by Integral Film/Helma Sanders-Brahms Filmproduktion with MACT Productions and Objektivfilmstudio will focus on the love triangle between Clara, her husband Robert and the younger composer Johannes Brahms.

Pascal Greggory (Arsene Lupin) will play Schumann, while Brahms will be portrayed by Malik Zidi who won the Best Newcomer Actor Cesar this February for his performance in Les Amities Malefiques.

Sanders-Brahms, who claims to be distantly related to the composer Brahms, has been developing this film on Clara Schumann for the past 11 years and had been planning previously to cast Isabelle Huppert in the title role.

The European co-production will move from Hungary to North Rhine-Westphalia on June 18 to continue shooting on location in Kerpen, Zons and Düsseldorf until the end of July.

The historical drama, which received backing from Filmstiftung NRW, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), BKM, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and Eurimages, will be released theatrically in Germany by Concorde Film.

Topics