Germany,
2000, 134 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
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Philip Gröning
- prod
-
Philip Gröning, Res Balzli, Dieter Fahrer, Françoise Guzio
- scr
-
Philip Gröning, Michael Busch
- cam
-
Sophie Maintigneux, Max Jonathan Silberstein
- editor
-
Max Jonathan Silberstein, Valdis Oskarsdottir
- cast
-
Sabine Timoteo, Florian Stetter, Michael Schech
- source
-
Bavaria Film International, Bavariafilmplatz 8, D-82031 Geiselgasteig, Germany. FAX: 49-89-64-99-37-20. EMAIL: Bavaria.International@bavaria-film.de
-
COMMENTS
Philip Gröning in person.
OTHER
Rather than work for four dollars an hour as a supermarket checkout girl, the entrepreneurial Marie (Sabine Timoteo, winner of the Locarno Film Festival’s best actress award) walks the winter streets of Berlin plying a more lucrative trade. One New Year’s Eve she meets David, who’s just been laid off from his scrap yard job. After an innocent night together, the young couple embarks on a tumultuous journey of love through snow-clad Germany. Stopping in small towns en route, Marie continues to bring home the bacon until David lands a manual labor job. Their meager incomes, however, aren’t enough, especially when the vet bills come in after their canine best friend Kurt suffers a vicious attack by another dog. So Marie manages to set up her own eminently successful high-rise brothel and David warms quickly to his role as pimp. As their situation changes from vaguely disturbing to downright dangerous, Marie learns she must resolve the inner conflict between her emotionless profession and the need for real intimacy in her life. Trust slowly manifests itself, and the two gently kindle the warmth lacking in the world around them. Gröning’s excellent use of both music and cold silence, and triple, even quadruple exposures, conveys a tenderness and trance-like beauty that ties the two young lives together.
—Marlene Friis
FACTOID #336
Bing Crosby was invited several times for an onstage tribute at the Festival, reports then-director Claude Jarman, but declined the honor. “Nobody wants to see those little things that I used to do,” he modestly replied. He did attend though, with wife Kathy and their friend, Rita Hayworth.
