Death of Wolfgang Becker, director of Good Bye, Lenin!, at the age of 70

The family of Wolfgang Becker announced the death of the German director on Friday December 13. The filmmaker, to whom we owe the unforgettable Good Bye, Lenin ! (2003), was 70 years old.

End flap. Wolfgang Becker died following a serious illness at the age of 70, the family of the German director announced on Friday December 13, 2024. He was particularly known for his film Good Bye Lenin ! (2003), with Daniel Brülh, cult film about the fall of the Berlin Wall. He leaves behind his wife Susanne and his daughter Rike.

After spending time at the Free University of Berlin, studying German civilization and history, Wolfgang Becker entered the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. His graduation film, Butterflies (Butterfliesin VF) had allowed him to get noticed, in Germany but also abroad. He notably won the Oscar for best student film in 1988.

Good Bye Lenin !a cult film

Wolfgang Becker then created the production company X-Filme Creative Pool, with producer Stefan Arndt and director Tom Tykwer. Company with which he made his films: first Life is a construction site (1997), Then Good Bye, Lenin ! (2003)and finally Hello and Kaminski (2015).

It's thanks to the second – who tells the story of a communist woman from East Germany who falls into a coma before the fall of the Berlin Wall to whom her children make believe that he never fell when she wakes up, to spare her the shock – that the director was famous and that he revealed the actor Daniel Brülh (recently seen in the series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, on Disney+).

Nominated for BAFTA and Golden Globes, Good Bye, Lenin ! was not awarded in the United States but won the European film of the year award – a first for a German film -, the César for best European Union film in France, the Goya for best European film in Spain, and a slew of awards in Germany, including nine Deutscher Filmpreis (German film awards) and a Blaue Engel at the Berlinale. A real success.