A few months ago I saw a punk lady with several dogs on the Berlin subway. For a moment I was euphoric. “I wonder if she is Christiane F”? A quick google check showed me that wasn’t the case. But it could have been. Christiane, my teenage idol, still lives in Berlin, the city I moved to a few years ago, since I read the book Eu, Christiane F, unter Drugs and Prostitutes. And according to rumors circulating around the city and local reports, he’s an ordinary person who often rides the subway.
If you were born in the 70’s or 80’s you know who I’m talking about. Christiane Vera Felscherinow became known worldwide after the autobiographical book she wrote with the help of two journalists was published in Germany in 1978 and became a bestseller worldwide.
The story was made into a film 40 years ago. And to celebrate, the film returns to theaters in Brazil this weekend. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend it. And even those who know the story like me will enjoy seeing it again.
The book and film about Christiane are irresistible and have aged very well.
Because the book and film are not just about the drama of a girl who grows up in a suburb of Berlin, becomes addicted to heroin as a child and turns to prostitution. This is a story about dreamy teenagers confusedly searching for freedom. And that never dates. This is a common drama for teenagers of every generation,
Christiane F today
When I first came to Berlin, the first thing I wanted to do was visit the famous places where the book is set. The Zoo station, where Christiane used to prostitute herself and used heroin in the bathroom, is still there. But Berlin’s drugstore has moved. One of the most popular traffic junctions is the Kottbusser Tor in Kreuzberg. And according to various rumors circulating in the city, Christiane is said to have an occasional relapse and be seen there.
Unfortunately this seems to be true. In 2015, Christiane ended up in the newspapers after a fight. Reason she would hit her own dog. Two people intervened, with Christiane biting a woman. Yes, “bitten”. And now the saddest part for someone like me who is a fan of hers. Christiane is also said to have said several racist insults. At that time she was arrested by the police.
A few years earlier, in 2013, she published the book “My Second Life” together with journalist Sonja Vukovic, in which she tells that she lives in a suburb in East Berlin, but takes the subway to Neukölln twice a week fahre , an area that was once a kind of ghetto but is popular today. There she “bite” the woman.
But Christiane is not only physically in Berlin. Last year I took the subway and looked at the district where she grew up, Gropiusstadt. There’s the building she grew up in, the Gropius Complex, which she describes in the book as a dark, sad, and green area. And that’s it. The building, an important architectural work, is a circular complex, all in grey. It was winter, so the “all gray” tone we envisioned while reading the book was very real. Could you feel Christiane F.’s desperation and also see that she still lives there?