I Is Another (2026) - Felix Randau's De-Language Film

Martin Müller, best known to international audiences for his roles in German television thrillers, steps into the uniform of one of history’s most reviled figures in the new drama I Is Another, which opens in theaters today. The film, directed by Felix Randau, centers on a tense 1952 train journey to Oslo, where a journalist and her husband confront a man who claims to have saved thousands of lives during the war. Müller’s Heinrich Himmler is not the architect of the Final Solution as history remembers him, but a spectral, haunting presence that complicates the narrative of heroism and guilt.

For Müller, the role demanded a departure from conventional villainy. “I didn’t want to play the monster from the history books,” he said in a recent interview, speaking through a translator. “I wanted to find the man who could sit across from someone and argue that his actions were justified. That’s what makes it terrifying.” The actor, who spent months studying archival footage and personal correspondences, noted that Himmler’s soft-spoken demeanor and meticulous manners were key to unlocking the character’s unsettling calm. “He was a bureaucrat of death. The horror lies in how ordinary he could seem.”

The film’s premise is a fictionalized confrontation, but it draws on real historical tensions. Claes Bang stars as Felix Kersten, a physical therapist who served Himmler and later claimed to have used his influence to save concentration camp prisoners. Valerie Pachner plays Hedda Wohmann, the journalist whose skepticism drives the story’s moral questioning. Markus Meyer appears as Norbert Masur, a Swedish representative of the World Jewish Congress, while Susanne Wuest portrays Irmgard Kersten, adding layers of domestic strain to the political thriller. Timocin Ziegler rounds out the core cast as Winfried, a young traveler whose presence unsettles the already volatile dynamic.

Müller’s portrayal avoids the easy caricature of a screaming zealot. Instead, he inhabits a Himmler who is quiet, almost apologetic, deploying logic as a weapon. The actor explained that Randau encouraged him to play against the expectation of evil. “Felix told me, ‘Treat your arguments as if they are reasonable, as if you believe every word.’ That was the most challenging direction I’ve ever received, because you have to suppress your own conscience to deliver those lines with sincerity.” The result, he hopes, forces audiences to sit in discomfort rather than feel safe in distance.

The production itself was a grueling experience for the cast, particularly the extended sequences set entirely within the train car. Müller described the confined shooting schedule as “a pressure cooker,” where the close quarters amplified the psychological tension between characters. “The train compartment became a stage, but also a trap. We were all sweating through those wool suits in the summer heat, and the claustrophobia was real. It helped us find the aggression underneath the polite conversation.” Randau intentionally kept the camera tight, using the narrow corridor to frame moral ambivalence.

I Is Another runs a brisk 93 minutes, a deliberate choice to maintain urgency. The plot unfolds as Hedda and her husband attempt to expose Kersten’s claims as self-serving fabrication, while the unexpected appearance of Müller’s Himmler - part memory, part hallucination, part alternate reality - blurs the distinction between what happened and what might have been. The film’s title itself hints at the fractured identity at its core, suggesting that the line between savior and perpetrator is not always clearly drawn in retrospect.

Randau, known for his arthouse historical pieces, has described the film as “a meditation on how we remember,” rather than a straightforward biopic. That ambition required the cast to trust the ambiguity. Müller noted that the script initially confused him until he saw the final cut. “When I read it, I kept asking who was lying. Felix said, ‘You’re all telling the truth - from your own perspective.’ That unlocked everything for me. Himmler genuinely believed his version of events. And that belief is the tragedy.” The actor added that playing the role left a lasting impression. “I had to shed the character each night. I would go for long walks, just to remind myself that I was Martin, not him. You cannot carry that kind of self-justification home.”

The film releases in a year that has seen renewed global interest in World War II narratives, though few have chosen to give Himmler this level of psychological depth. Early festival screenings have drawn polarized responses, with some critics praising the courage of the performance and others questioning whether any portrayal risks humanizing an unforgivable figure. Müller pushes back against that concern. “We aren’t humanizing him. We’re recognizing that he was human, which is far more frightening. If he were a monster, we could dismiss him. The movie argues that ordinary people built the machinery of atrocity, and that’s a lesson we still need to learn.”

As I Is Another opens nationwide, Müller remains pragmatic about the film’s commercial prospects, which currently carry a modest critical response. “Art like this doesn’t need to be liked. It needs to be discussed.” He paused, then added, “If one person walks out and questions their own certainties, we’ve done our job. That’s the risk of taking on a role like this - and the reason I said yes.”

Source: Hollywood Reporter