anywhere out of the world

2.12.19

Cause Germans do it better: LONELY TOGETHER, my favorite 2019 German Film @Munich Intl.Film Festival

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

13.6.19

English tea time in Transylvania: SCARBOROUGH

Scarborough, on the Northeastern shore of England,
is no longer a popular holiday destination.

The English town is nowadays
a monument to lost enamel.

The majestic and abandoned rooms
of the Grand Hotel
overlooking the North Sea
testify of it.

At its Reception Desk, first Liz,
and then Aiden
receive the keys of their rooms.

They declare to be alone.

Yet they find themselves,
during a trip in the elevator,
each one clinging to a younger lover.

Over the course of a weekend,

two love stories intersect and merge, forbidden and marked,

mirroring one another.

The couples game is balanced.

Both Liz(Jodhi May)
and Aiden( Edward Hogg)
are teachers.

They struggle with their intense and problematic loves for sixteen-year-old Daz (Jordan Bolger)

and Beth(Jessica Barden),
two uninhibited,feisty teens,

who are still filled with the adolescent exuberance

of those who have yet to be

disappointed or betrayed.

Overflowing with vital ingenuity,

the two youngsters represent
a romantic and sensual ideal

that begs to be lived.

Yet at the same time

it requires to be hidden
from puritan eyes.

As there is not only age
to complicate things.

But also the fact
that every couple

is composed of
a professor and his/her student.

In the first part of the film
the two stories are echoeing,

between the Victorian bare walls of the hotel.

They repeat the same fragments of dialogue

between men and women.

The result
is an intriguing reflection
on gender dynamics.

Here the words
leave viewers
free to appreciate
the enormous differences

radiated on tone,
gestures,
bodies.

In addition, of course,
to the balance of POWER
within the relationships.

Six years ago the Director Barnaby Southcombe started out as a film director
with the noir "I, Anna",
presented at the Berlinale.

"This is a hot topic
but someone has to talk about it -
said Barnaby Southcombe
when I discussed with him
last week
at the 2019 Transylvania International Film Festival. -

For me it is very important to focus
on the fact that love
is a totally subjective concept
and always the target of criticism
from the outside,
especially if a relationship is
socially unacceptable "

" But the relationships shown in the film
are clearly sexual
and show adults struggling with partners
who are just of age", said I.

"There is a difference for me
between pedophilia
and consensual relationship,

but in a relationship between student and teacher there is a line that should not be crossed.

I was interested in going beyond it
and focusing on the emotions
of this relationship:
what is important to those involved?

How is this relationship analyzed
after so many years have passed?

Presenting two couples struggling
with the same dynamics
allowed me
to analyze this topic
in two different moments".

-"It is interesting to me that in the film
there are the younger partners
who are pushing
to keep the relationship going.
At one point,
the young boy is even ready
to take responsibility
for having a child
with his forty-year-old teacher.", I notified.

..."At 16 you think you are
in full control
of your thoughts and your body,
but in the end you understand
that it is not really so.

I liked the ideea of exploring the experience of a FORBIDDEN LOVE
and how the young protagonists
totally trust their own judgment.
A temporary thing."

-"I noticed that the camera focuses more on women:
the female student in love with her teacher,
and the woman teacher loved by her student."

" I'm more interested in telling the story
of a woman,
we already have too many
male references
in our cinema.

As a director, however,
I want to continue to explore
the fragility of human beings,
and tell them in the moment
of full awareness:
they know very well
that they are doing something wrong
but they cannot stop.

Some have a facade that seems stronger
than others,

but the truth is
that we are all
fragile

in the end".