Measuring the world

At the beginning of the 19th century, two men set out to explore the world. One focuses on the visible, the other on the imaginable. Alexander von Humboldt travels to South America to map the continent and discover unknown forms of life, while Carl Friedrich Gauß conducts his research from behind his desk at home, becoming a renowned mathematician. In the end, the two famous Germans meet – both older, but not necessarily any happier.

Rather than glorifying these ’great Germans’, as countless German filmmakers have done in the past, the film concludes with a sense of melancholy. MEASURING THE WORLD is an adaptation of Daniel Kehlmann’s bestselling novel of the same name. Kehlmann also co-wrote the screenplay.

Image © Boje Buck Produktion