Plots(1)
He is a medical student, who believes in Hippocrates. She is a girl of huge spiritual needs. She finds a cozy penthouse flat for them, where guest indulge in reading poetry in a friendly and interested atmosphere. They give birth to one child, then another. Albeit he must give up his studies to earn their living. And still it is unclear why he drifts away from her, when she is so understanding and calm. Whence this crack which fatally runs right through the middle of his life? (Moscow International Film Festival)
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The film debut of Edgar Reitz, a signatory of the Oberhausen Manifesto and a participant in New German Cinema, for which the director received an award for Best Debut at the Venice Film Festival. The film should be shown to those interested in the aforementioned German film movement, as it contains many of its themes (and the film is also a vivid example of the trends of the progressive European films of the 60s): primarily its focus on the problematic present through the story of a young couple gradually building a family, searching for employment, seeking (and not finding) meaning in family life, etc. This sociological shot is demonstrated through various documentary techniques (also similar to cinema-verité), interweaving the fictional story. This documentary detachment is also evident through the use of a "Kluge-esque" narrator, maintaining a distance between the characters and the audience. However, the film is mainly an artistic depiction of crises, emptiness, and unfulfillment in the gray reality of everyday life - it subtly uses other progressive techniques of the time, such as "Truffaut-style" captions in the image, decent intertitles, and appealing black and white cinematography.
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Photo © Constantin Film
