German film director Werner Herzog premiered his new feature film, Bucking Fastard, at the Venice Film Festival, addressing contemporary discussions around neurodivergence by dismissing clinical terms as political correctness. According to the director, the film’s protagonists—real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara playing siblings Jean and Joan Holbrooke—fall dead centre rather than representing a clinical aberration.
Werner Herzog Rejects Neurodiversity Label at Venice Film Festival
Speaking at the Lido, the 83-year-old filmmaker rejected modern diagnostic language when discussing his characters. According to Herzog, terms like neurodivergence and ADHD sound like political correctness that scares him under the table. The Bavaria-born director stated that he does not relate to trendy terms, adding that such vocabulary dusts out of his ears and fails to recognize that his characters sit dead centre.
Did you know? Bucking Fastard is Werner Herzog’s first non-documentary feature film in 17 years, following a long line of cinematic outsiders including Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo.
Plot and Real-Life Inspiration Behind Bucking Fastard
In Bucking Fastard, sisters Kate and Rooney Mara portray Jean and Joan Holbrooke, who possess separate bodies but speak in unison, dress identically, and share the same preoccupations. According to production details, the characters first fall love with a washed-up heart-throb neighbor played by Orlando Bloom, exact revenge when he marries another woman, and embark on a quest to dig a tunnel connecting a cave in County Sligo to the Orkneys. The film is loosely based on Freda and Greta Chaplin, an intensely attached pair of twins from York whom Herzog met in the 1980s.
Unlike his earlier films where protagonists are predominantly gentle monomaniacs, Herzog noted that the Holbrooke sisters show resilience, find allies, and display vengeful traits such as arson. While the director is frequently associated with the cruel chaos of the natural world in documentaries, Bucking Fastard features the sisters rescuing a young fox rather than exploiting or avoiding it.
Audience Reception and Shift Toward Younger Viewers
Despite his enduring reputation as a radical doomsayer of European art-house cinema, Herzog reported attracting a significantly younger demographic. According to the director, a huge amount of audiences contacting him are 15, 16, maybe 17 years old. Following a major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, curators noted that attendees were predominantly young people, contrasting with adjacent retrospectives for contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard.
To bridge the gap with these audiences, Herzog launched an Instagram account at the behest of his youngest son to document barbecuing, DIY projects, and unboxing packages. However, because he still does not own a mobile phone, he remains unable to browse competing content online.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bucking Fastard about?
The film follows real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara as siblings Jean and Joan Holbrooke, who share identical habits, seek revenge against a neighbor played by Orlando Bloom, and attempt to dig a tunnel connecting County Sligo to the Orkneys.
What inspired Werner Herzog’s new film?
According to Herzog, the film is loosely based on Freda and Greta Chaplin, an intensely attached pair of twins from York whom he met in the 1980s.
How does Werner Herzog view neurodivergence?
According to the director, he dislikes terms like neurodivergence and ADHD, describing them as trendy clinical labels that sound like political correctness.
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