Bad cells
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Bad cells |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2003 |
| length | 120 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Barbara Albert |
| script | Barbara Albert |
| production | Antonin Svoboda, Martin Gschlacht (Coop 99) |
| camera | Martin Gschlacht |
| cut | Monika Willi |
| occupation | |
| |
Bad Cells is an episode film directed by Barbara Albert . It premiered at the 56th Locarno International Film Festival in August 2003 and was released in Austrian cinemas in November of the same year. The film, which cost around two million euros, was produced by Coop 99 and co-financed by the Vienna Film Fund , the Austrian Film Institute , Eurimages , the Baden-Württemberg Media and Film Society and the Federal Office for Culture of the Austrian state of Lower Austria .
The narrative does not follow a linear story; instead, short stories are told in individual episodes from the lives of around a dozen people who are connected to one another through acquaintances, friendships or relatives. Common to all people is a deep despair, in all episodes there are strokes of fate and even catastrophes. On the website for the film, the director is quoted as saying that she “consciously” chose people “who have two traits in common: on the one hand, their dependence on others, on the other hand, their deep loneliness”. She has referred to her film as a “ghost story” several times to indicate a kind of metaphysical level. In addition, the butterfly effect, known from chaos theory, is a defining theme of the film.
action
The film begins with a plane crash over the sea on the return journey from Rio de Janeiro to Europe. Manu is one of the few survivors. This is followed by a leap in time of six years. Manu is now married to Andreas, a cinema manager, and has a daughter with him named Yvonne. She visits a discotheque with her friend Andrea. Manu wants to go home, while Andrea stays because of a male acquaintance. While driving, Manu is killed in a traffic accident: Kai, a young man, collides head-on with his car with Manu's car. While he remains uninjured, his girlfriend and passenger Gabi suffers serious injuries and remains paraplegic. After the accident, she wants nothing more to do with the driver, Kai. He then befriends a classmate Patricia, whose parents shot each other years ago. She holds seances - this is the only way to get respect from her classmates. At the end of the film, Kai and Patricia sleep together.
After Manu's death Andrea falls in love with the widower Andreas - the two help each other to come to terms with their grief. Andrea later has an affair with a chance acquaintance from the nightclub, whereupon she becomes pregnant. Andreas reacts horrified and dismissive, but can also be considered a father. His daughter Yvonne is examined for stomach pain, but the suspicion of cancer is not confirmed.
Another protagonist is Manuela's sister Gerlinde, who sees herself as a rebel, but is viewed by other people as either eccentric and crazy or pityed. She lives in the apartment of a leg amputee alcoholic, does not pay rent there, but provides sexual services in return.
Manuela's brother Reini works as a teacher. He gets to know the saleswoman Sandra, for whom he feels affection. Out of shame he keeps it hidden from her. Sandra lives with her mother Belinda, whose life is portrayed in a very dreary way: she compensates for her inner emptiness with lottery games, TV shows, in the choir and alleged miracle diets. Belinda falls in love with the policeman Karl, who works and lives nearby and is also a member of the choir. She gathers all her courage to confess her love to the man. After he clearly rejects her, Belinda throws herself in front of a moving train. Then her leg has to be amputated. Belinda finds her way back to life anyway.
Andreas wins a prefabricated house in a lottery. How the relationship with Andrea continues is not shown in the film. In the final sequence, Gerlinde and Yvonne dance and hop in a parking lot in the rain.
Reviews
The lexicon of international film sees the film as “an abysmal kaleidoscope of human relationships that precisely describes the homelessness of modern humans. The pessimistic world design is brightened up again and again by brief glimmers of hope that are woven in as meaningful components. "
The standard calls Bad Cells a "dark film with scenes of depressing intensity: It is not just about grief, the death seems to exacerbate a more comprehensive malaise."
The press noted: “Much is being written about how depressed Barbara Albert's Bad Cells are : This complex episodic drama about death, the search for meaning and existential crises is naturally not happy. Little mention is made, however, of the fact that Albert's film is also an illustrative example of genuinely cinematic organization, as well as a fascinating attempt to go beyond social realism through novel-like structures. Bad cells also has the best music scenes of the year. "
The Salzburger Nachrichten declared evil cells to be the most controversial competition entry at the Locarno Film Festival and went on to write: “The film is controversial because the director plays heavily with elements of mass culture, such as TV talk shows. Without comment or satirical exaggeration, she uses them as a motor for the progress of the action. Due to the strong concentration on banalities, the film irritates, which increases the sometimes bumpy dramaturgy. These shortcomings and, on the other hand, the impressive, psychologically precise drawing of the characters brought the film into conversation like no other. "
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that Barbara Albert continued with the film "the everyday apocalypse of her compatriot Ulrich Seidl - bad cells could also be called Dog Days 2. "
Web links
- Radicals in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Interview with Barbara Albert about the film
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bad cells. In: Austrian Film Institute . Accessed August 31, 2019 .
- ↑ Bad cells. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Der Standard , August 12, 2003, p. 20
- ^ Die Presse , November 22, 2003, p. 15
- ↑ Salzburger Nachrichten , August 13, 2003, p. 10
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 19, 2003