“The Mastroianni of Prenzlauer Berg” – as the press so likes to call him – was not easily convinced to let himself be portrayed on film. Although Henry Hübchen is one of the most enigmatic and prominent actors in Germany today, he does not like to show himself “unmade-up” to a camera. And thus this portrait follows a shy and sensitive man who has influenced German history a way that is unmistakably his own. Born in West Berlin shortly after the war, he grew up in the newly founded GDR, became two-time East German “board sailing” champion (surfing), his studies in physics cut short, and his first success being in the Oscar nominated film “JACOB THE LIAR” – Hübchen’s life is characterized by extremes.

Under the direction of Heiner Müller and Benno Besson, he became one of the most celebrated stars of stage in the East German theater Volksbühne Ost. After the fall of the Wall, the duo Hübchen / Castorf became the mouthpiece of a theater generation. He and Castorf, now a director, are, together, breathing new life into German theater. Already a big name in television, Henry Hübchen became renowned the world over in 2005 with the screen success of “GO FOR SUGAR”. For his role as Jäcky Zucker, he was awarded with the German Film Prize for Best Actor. Entertainingly, this Arte portrait explores the different stages of a life in motion.

Authors Sabine Lidl and Irene Höfer visit the star at the Baltic Sea, show him as a singer in a band and remember the hit he composed: “Casablanca”. They invite him to play a game of pool with Dani Levy and follow him through the bewildering underworld of the Volksbühne, with self-mocking and clownish commentary from Hübchen. And beyond that, actress and colleague Sophie Rois and director Frank Castorf talk about their amusing and moving experiences with him. This portrait is, then, also a quest for the ex-GDR. Henry Hübchen – Rocker, Risktaker, Tarrier. A man that mistrusts quick truths as much as he does bad scripts finds it difficult to show what he truly thinks in front of the camera: “My job is to not show myself,” he comments on acting. It is the surprising glimpse into the soul of a show-off that makes this portrait so worth watching.