Lonely together
(ZU ZWEIT ALLEIN)
Directed by Sabine Koder
germany, 2019.
"The heart has it reasons which
reason knows nothing of."
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
You will either enjoy the laid-back
atmosphere and chatty characters in “Lonely Together”,
a fresh film out of the
Munchen HFF oven,
or find it all incredibly boring.
It is though so rare to
find movies that don't want to be sensationalistic and violent,
but would
rather present universal questions
and then investigate them throughout the
course of the movie.
Director Sabine
Koder traces in "Lonely Together" the portrait of a couple of two
undecided.
But, as the
director is an obvious follower of Kant,
she made her characters two volunteers of
indecision:
The two chose not
to be chosen.
The two do not stop
passing from one bank of the river to another,
as much as they do not stop passing from
one state of mind to another.
Yet they never
interrupt their analysis and their "no choice".
The characters talk and talk, often such deeply
personal matters that I had trouble keeping up.
But the talk is interesting and
intriguing.
This is a story that has to do first with the
protagonists self-perception.
Jean-Thom Lass, who plays Karl, brings a
veracious mix of smug confidence and little guy vulnerability to the part.
All this is spiked with a clear case of
self-delusion that illuminates his character.
Nina, played with coquettish innocence
by Eva Bay,
is also clever and deliciously sophisticated,
vulnerable and honest.
And she is certainly a bout de souffle,
a woman on the verge of a breakdown.
Karl engages in much philosophizing
about choice,
but he is never choosing.
He operates out of how he
"should" or "should not" act, rather than out of his
experience of what works out.
When life does not fit his pictures, he deceives
himself with endless rationalizations.
Through his experience with Nina,
through their very ludic relationship, more of a camaraderie than of an
inflammable love story,
and especially when she takes time off it,
he is shook out of his need for complete self-control.
And then he finally has the epiphany
of grace.
The young german
director presented here a very strict construction, softened by a balance of
tones,
by the grace of the performers
and the fluidity of the staging.
"LONELY
TOGETHER", intimately linked to the german urban landscape, follows the
fluctuations of the feelings of characters who do not cease to hesitate
on
their sentimental destiny.
This is a "philosophical
tale", in which the questions of identity and otherness are asked.
But the
film works also as a "moral narrative" that questions the nature of
the relationship between the sexes.
“Lonely together” has a quality that
lingers long after the action is gone.
The underlying philosophy about the
nature of human love
and how it conflicts or is (in)compatible with reason
it really
does reflect the above quote from Pascal,
whose spirit is akin, although he
denies it, to that of Karl, the careful protagonist of this very interesting
film.
After 10 days when I have lived in the
delight of consuming the newest german cinematic oeuvres,
I found that “Lonely
together” is undoubtedly
one of the most intellectually stimulating films I’ve
seen this year.
As this is a beautiful film, worldly
wise, warm,
sensual and subtle
as a dinner by candlelight.
By Giulia DOBRE
FIPRESCI JURY @ Filmfest Munchen 2019.
Credits
Screenplay: Sabine Koder
Director of Photography: Noah Schuller
Film Editor: Kilian Schmid
Composer: Pablo Jókay
Production Designer: Theresa Scheitzenhammer, Sabine Koder
Costume Design: Olivia Andrione
Sound: Stefan Postavka, Tim Teichmann
Producer: Natalie Hölzel, Sandra Hölzel
Production Company: Elfenholz Film
Co-Production Company: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF München)
Director: Sabine Koder
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