Helga Reidemeister met Irene Rakowitz whilst working as a social worker in a housing estate in North-West Berlin. Irene, politically active within the estate and recently divorced, agreed to collaborate with Reidemeister to document the reality of working-class family lives. Von wegen 'Schicksal' is an attempt at addressing the power structures between filmmaker and filmed, with Rakowitz an active participant not just in her own life, but in the filmmaking process.