Dir.
Wolfgang Becker, 2003, Germany
Cast:
Daniel Bruhl, Katrin Sass, Maria Simon
It is 1989 and Germany is divided. There is growing unrest and East German Alex (Daniel Brühl) is caught up in the spirit of change. But when Alex's socialist, party-loyal, mother Christiane (Katrin Sass) sees him arrested on a protest march, she collapses and falls into a coma. Alex visits his mother in hospital for many months, often timing his visits to coincide with the rounds of his favourite nurse - a young Russian woman called Lara who he spoke to on the march. When, after eight months, Christiane emerges from the coma, Alex is warned by doctors that another serious shock might kill her. But life in Germany has changed - the Berlin wall has fallen, Christiane's neighbours are happily embracing consumerism, and her daughter (Maria Simon) has a West German boyfriend and a job at Burger king. Desperate to protect his bed-ridded mother from the knowledge that her East German ideal has failed, Alex shields her from the new society by recreating the old one - complete with dowdy décor and ludicrous home-made news bulletins - in her room. As the weeks go by Alex struggles to maintain the deception of the bedroom enclave, and is forced to confront the consequences of unification for his family. Wolfgang Becker's gentle comedy drama is deservedly enjoying much acclaim - winning the Blue Angel (Best European Film) at the Berlin Film Festival, and becoming the most successful German production of all time.
The film's interesting premise is backed up by a flawless cast (Katrin Sass is remarkable as Christiane) and by the alternately comical and tender screenplay of Bernd Lichtenberg. The period detail is fascinating (such as the manipulation of authentic archival news) and often well used for comic effect. Yet it is the film's emotional detail - Alex's difficulty in accepting the changes in his family - which is of most interest. Alex's girlfriend Lara (quietly played by Chulpan Khamatova) is a fresh influence in his life, and she also comes to represent the wider changes taking place - Lara is a newcomer, and it is she who feels compelled to bring Alex's well meant deception of Christiane to an end. Actor Daniel Brühl has described Alex as "simply a regular guy," and it is in conveying this very normality, of young man's reactions to the shifting relationships in his life - his new girlfriend, his dying mother - with honesty and warmth, that Brühl really gives the film its charm. Elizabeth Griffin |
