Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert

Ingeborg Bachmann – Journey into the Desert is a biographical drama about the Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann and her relationship with the Swiss author Max Frisch. The two meet in Paris in 1958, when both are already established figures in German-language literature. What begins as a passionate affair unfolds over several years between Zurich and Rome, but professional tensions and Frisch's jealousy gradually wear away at the relationship. When things threaten to overwhelm her, Bachmann travels to the desert with the Viennese journalist Adolf Opel, a journey on which she tries to find her way back to herself and to her writing.

Margarethe von Trotta directs and wrote the screenplay, working with producers Bettina Brokemper, Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu and Bady Minck. It is her third feature in the chronological listing here, following Sisters, or The Balance of Happiness and The African Woman. Vicky Krieps plays Bachmann opposite Ronald Zehrfeld as Frisch, with Tobias Resch, Basil Eidenbenz, Luna Wedler and Marc Limpach among the credited cast of twenty-six.

Released in June 2023 and running 110 minutes, the film received a film critics' rating of 6.3 out of 10 from ten reviews. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from 758 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.2 out of 10 from 19 votes. Audience scores and the critics' score are close to one another.