Contra: Remake of the comedy “The Brilliant Mademoiselle Naila” about a law professor who must coach a student to redeem herself.
Film plot and background
Remake of the comedy “Die brillante Mademoiselle Naila” about a law professor who has to coach a female student in order to rehabilitate herself.
Professor Pohl (Christoph Maria Herbst) doesn’t exactly have the best reputation at university. To make matters worse, he makes inappropriate remarks to student Naima (Nilam Farooq) just because she was late for his lecture. The video with the racist remarks quickly goes viral and even university president Lambrecht (Ernst Stötzner) can’t do much about it. But he doesn’t want to simply fire Pohl either.
In order to whitewash his record, Pohl is supposed to get Naima fit for an important rhetoric competition. The young woman reluctantly agrees, but the first practice sessions don’t quite go according to plan. In the end, she does get involved in the project and visibly changes. Her environment, including boyfriend Mo (Hassan Akkouch), has mixed reactions. Can she hold her own in the competition or will she throw in the towel beforehand?
“Contra” – background and start
After “Der Vorname” (2018), Sönke Wortmann (“Deutschland, ein Sommermärchen”) once again takes a French work as his model and adapts it for German audiences. The model this time is “The Brilliant Mademoiselle Neila” by Yvan Attal from 2017, with Doron Wisotzky (“Schlussmacher”, “What a Man”) adapting the screenplay.
Before filming could start, Wortmann went into an intensive research phase – and back to university. In Tübingen and Heidelberg, the director visited campus debates as well as the German-language debating championship 2019.
In the main roles we see actor and comedian Christoph Maria Herbst (“Stromberg”, “Männerhort”), Nilam Farooq (“Rate your Date”) and “4 Blocks” actor Hassan Akkouch.
After another postponement, the socio-critical comedy “Contra” will open in German cinemas on 28 October 2021. The FSK gave the film an age rating of 12 years and up.
