The film "Loving Highsmith" by the writer-director Eva Vitija focuses on the author Patricia Highsmith. Her diaries are read In the German version by Maren Kroymann. Patricia Highsmith is one of the leading figures in world literature thanks to such novels as "Strangers on a Train" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley". The film adaptations reached a huge audience. At the same time, the master of the psychological thriller kept her private life hidden from the public. Not even her family in Texas knew that she was a lesbian. She was only able to publish her lesbian romance "The Price Of Salt" (later under the title of "Carol") under a pseudonym in 1952. She wrote about her own turbulent love life in her diaries and notebooks, but these were only discovered after her death in a linen cupboard in her house in Switzerland’s Ticino. Based on these notes, which were published for the first time in autumn 2021 on the author’s 100th birthday, director Eva Vitija casts a light on Highsmith’s loves and passions. Passages from the books read by Maren Kroymann are juxtaposed with interviews with former friends and Highsmith’s family, as well as scenes from the world-famous screen adaptations of her novels. Vitija’s multi-layered love biography takes us into a realm of longings and obsessions – and sheds new light on one of the most enigmatic authors of the 20th century. But "Loving Highsmith" is also the portrait of a generation of women who found the courage to fight for their right to love on the publication of Highsmith’s "Carol".
"Loving Highsmith" was produced by Ensemble Film (CH) in co-production with Lichtblick Film and the participation of arte/ZDF, SRF and RSI. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW provided 100,000 Euros in production support and 30,000 Euros for the film’s distribution. Additional support came from the Zurich Film Foundation, Federal Office of Culture (BAK), the Canton of St. Gallen, Suissimage, the UBS Cultural Foundation, the Alexis Victor Thalberg Foundation, the Ernst Göhner Foundation, SSA, MEDIA Desk Suisse and Eurodoc. Loving Highsmith" was released in German cinemas on 7 April by Salzgeber & Co. Medien.