Memorial Page for Susanne Lothar

Susanne Lothar (born 15 November 1960 in Hamburg; died 21 July 2012 in Berlin) was a German stage, film and television actress. She worked with directors including Peter Zadek, Luc Bondy and Michael Haneke, and became known for roles in which she made psychological tension, vulnerability and hardness visible without vanity.

Family and stage

Lothar was born into an acting family. Her father Hanns Lothar and her mother Ingrid Andree were both actors; her father died early. Susanne Lothar studied acting in Hamburg and moved quickly into theatre. At the Thalia Theater and later on stages in Vienna, Berlin and Salzburg, she developed a style that was physically precise and emotionally immediate. She did not seek smooth likability, but figures at the edge of fear, anger and self-assertion.

First film and recognition

Her first major film role came in 1983 in Tankred Dorst's Eisenhans. For that performance she received the German Federal Film Prize. Even so, theatre remained her central place for a long time. There she could carry states of tension across a whole evening. That experience later shaped her film work as well: Lothar did not act decoratively, but with an intensity that left scenes open and precise.

Work with Michael Haneke

Internationally, Lothar was especially noticed through her work with Michael Haneke. In Funny Games she played opposite Ulrich Mühe in 1997 as a woman exposed to violence and helplessness. Later came roles in The Castle, The Piano Teacher and The White Ribbon. Haneke's films did not ask effects from her, but exact presence: fear, shame, resistance and exhaustion remained controlled in her acting and still exposed.

Film, television and late roles

Alongside Haneke, Lothar worked in many German film and television productions. She appeared in The Reader, acted in Andres Veiel's If Not Us, Who and shortly before her death worked on international productions including Anna Karenina. Her parts were often not large in screen time, but they left a clear trace because Lothar did not treat supporting figures casually.

Private life

In 1997 Susanne Lothar married the actor Ulrich Mühe. They appeared together on stage and screen, including in Funny Games. Mühe died in 2007; Lothar continued living in Berlin with their children. She spoke sparingly about her private life. After her death, too, the family asked that the cause not be made public.

Farewell

Susanne Lothar died in Berlin on 21 July 2012. She was 51 years old. Her work remains connected with a particular kind of precision: acting that makes inner states perceptible in posture, voice and gaze.