Okay, putting myself on the spot here… but I have to admit something very Viennese and Austrian: all those iconic movies filmed here? We. Have. Not. Seen. Them. Not a single one. Not Before Sunrise, not The Third Man, not Amadeus, not Where Eagles Dare, and especially not Sound of Music. We just live here and complain about the tourists that these movies keep drawing into our beautiful country. (Or at least me?)

However, my friend & HEIMAT colleague Ruby just organised a wonderful event for next week, highlighting the 30th anniversary of Before Sunrise, an apparently must-see movie for everyone who ever wants to visit Vienna, in which two souls wander through Vienna for one day and fall in love (please keep in mind, I have not seen the movie so I am in no way taking responsibility for the accuracy of my claims here). They are frequenting quite a few of the spots we also frequent, Café Sperl for our weekly Stammtisch or Das Kleine Café, a tiny bar which my dad already went to in his youth somewhat 60 years ago. It is wonderful to know that a movie that portrays two tourists visiting Vienna is very much showing none of the Vienna tourist spots, it’s almost refreshing. Of course, they are also wandering past the Albertina Steps, overlooking the Opera, which, you could say, is very much a tourist spot, however, there is also always a sense of calmness there. Unless, of course, you come on a Wednesday in summer, because that’s the location for one of Vienna’s most beloved after-work party spots.

Anyway, I digress. So yes, I am talking about an event for a movie I have never seen, about locations I only know because I go there to mostly complain about things, like the tourists who are there because of said movie. Very on brand for me. They reenact movie scenes, I reenact having patience for it. Both poorly.

I feel like at this point, watching Before Sunrise is basically my homework so I can knowledgeably complain about it, yet I am committed to still not doing homework in the same way that I never did a single piece of homework during my 12 years of school (insert a dramatic sigh from my mom who had to deal with that problem).
But how come we Viennese have not seen that movie? Is it because, after all, we are the movie? Mostly portrayed as the side-eye-rolling characters in the back? Because why should we watch a romanticised version of our city, if we could just, you know, live in our city. Tourists follow Ethan Hawke’s footsteps, while we’re just trying not to get run over by a Fiaker.

At this point, my film knowledge is 90% vibes and 10% Wikipedia at 2 a.m. So if you’re like me - proudly uninformed - this anniversary walk & screening might be your redemption arc, and not feel like homework after all.

It’s, of course, the total opposite for Sound of Music, a movie I will physically fight to never have to watch until the end of my life. I know very few Austrians and Viennese who have seen the movie, even fewer who liked it. It’s the way we are portrayed, singing through the Alps, Salzburg and the world, that makes me truly uncomfortable. I know it’s a cute idea, and obviously no one in High School Musical ever actually jumped on cafeteria tables and sang about how they secretly baked cakes or played the cello just to be shut up by a Sharpay Evans screaming through the hall, but also, have you ever met an Austrian who happily danced through the Alps singing? Like, we are grumpy. We are grantig. I might be speaking for Viennese only, but I could generally not imagine something more un-Austrian.
Besides that, the popularity of the movie is shocking, there are buses on our highways, driving packs of tourists at high speed from Salzburg to Hallstatt and back, just to see all the original locations. In Hallstatt itself, it is getting hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t offer its menu in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Japanese, and maybe in the back somewhere in German. The Sound of Music tourism successfully pushed Austrians out of Hallstatt.

All of this got me thinking:
Is this just a Sound of Music problem? Or is this an Austrian problem?
Because when you look beyond Julie Andrews twirling on a mountain, you realise that the list of iconic films I haven’t watched is… impressively long.

The Third Man (apparently my husband has seen that several times, so maybe it’s a me problem), Amadeus (I do have faint memories of the film visually, although I wouldn’t say that I watched it), Where Eagles Dare (husband really wants to watch this now after seeing the trailer). There are also a number of famous scenes or parts of movies that are filmed in Vienna and Austria. I accidentally fell into a full-on Hollywood–Vienna rabbit hole, because apparently every time a director needs a dramatic opera house, a spooky palace, or a random snowy cliff for someone to fall off - they quietly come to Austria. Honestly, I think Hollywood likes Vienna more than Viennese people do. And yet, I am talking about all of these movies like I know them, Girlboss energy if you ask me. I’m basically Austria’s worst cultural ambassador - and somehow also its most accurate one.
At the end of the day, tourists come here because of the movies.
And we live here despite them. Somehow, it works.

xx, Ellie

Eleonore Marie Stifter - Resident Viennese. Writes about culture, taste, and the art of complaining beautifully.