The Eye (1999)

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Movie
German title The eye
Original title Eye of the Beholder
Country of production Canada , United Kingdom , Australia
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 109 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Stephan Elliott
script Stephan Elliott
Marc Behm
production Nicolas Clermont
music Marius De Vries
camera Guy Dufaux
cut Sue Blainey
occupation

Das Auge (OT: Eye of the Beholder) is a feature film by director Stephan Elliott from 1999. It is a remake of the novel Das Auge by Marc Behm , which was filmed by Claude Miller in 1983 under the same title .

action

The son of a senior diplomat from the British Embassy in Washington is suspected by his father of embezzling money from an escrow account . It is believed that his new love, Joanna Eris, is blackmailing him. Stephen Wilson aka "Das Auge" , an employee of the department for internal investigations, is assigned to shadow the diplomat's son.

Stephen was left by his wife Margret seven years ago and has been quite frustrated ever since. The marriage also resulted in a daughter named Lucy. However, he only has one class photo and does not know which of the girls is his daughter. In addition, Stephen is plagued by guilt. He always daydreams seeing Lucy with him, and he behaves accordingly.

While observing the suspect's villa, Das Auge observes how the mistress stabs the man with a kitchen knife until she is sure of his death. Then Joanna drags the body to the adjacent lake and sinks it in the water. From now on she changes her appearance every day. She wears different wigs, differently styled clothes and also changes her name. This doesn't make the chase easy for Stephen, but he witnesses Joanna again commit murder. The victim is a gem dealer. Then a New York police detective shows up and proposes a deal. He would stop investigating if she slept with him. She pretends to accept the offer, but when the detective tries to kiss her, Joanna takes out her pistol and shoots him.

Stephen is magically drawn to the serial killer . Therefore, he continues the surveillance without notifying his department. In the departure lounge of an airport, Joanna meets the blind winery owner Alexander Leonard. She tells him that when she was nine, her parents abandoned her and put her in a home. Soon Alexander proposes marriage to her , which makes Das Auge even more jealous. He has no control over his emotions and shoots the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow from the church tower on the day of the wedding when Alexander picks up his future wife. The car got out of control and collided with an oncoming truck . As if by a miracle, Joanna remains uninjured in the accident, but any help comes too late for Alexander.

Joanna runs out of gas while driving through Utah . The drug addict Gary, who happened to be passing by , offered to take her with him. When the two arrive at his apartment, he knocks his companion to the ground and gives her a dose of heroin . Stephen manages to free Joanna from the clutches of Gary. But the rescued woman shows no trace of gratitude. She uses the first opportunity available to flee in Stephen's car.

Time goes by, and Das Auge, for its part, has an admirer, his colleague Hilary. Together they find Joanna again. She was treated in a Chicago hospital because of a miscarriage . When Joanna sleeps, Stephen puts his wife's wedding ring on her finger. Finally she is released and decides to go in search of her mysterious protector. Joanna is almost there when she is stopped by three police cars. Stephen, who also observed this incident, shoots the officers so that the two can escape separately.

Joanna now works as a waitress in a restaurant in Alaska . The eye tracks them down there too and warns them of two officers who are after them. These finally appear accompanied by Dr. Jeanne Brault, a psychiatrist who looked after Joanna during a previous prison term. Stephen helps her escape again, and they end up in his tent. His car keys are on the table. As Stephen anticipated, Joanna shoots him with his pistol, which he has loaded with blank cartridges as a precaution, whereupon he appears to collapse. Joanna drives at high speed weeping on the snowy road, but Stephen follows her on his motorcycle and finally catches up with her. She can hardly believe her eyes when she sees him next to her. Both stretch out their arms one after the other, but just before their hands touch, Joanna comes off the road, her car crashes down the slope. She eventually dies in Stephen's arms.

On the German DVD there is an alternative final scene that gives the film a different ending: One day Stephen goes to the cemetery to visit Joanna's grave. As he is on his way back, he sees a girl kneeling in front of a tombstone with his wife's inscription. He asks her for her name and gets "Lucy" in response. Then Stephen takes the class photo out of his jacket pocket and compares the faces. Now he seems to have finally found his daughter.

Reviews

The lexicon of international films writes that it is a “mixture of psychological thriller and road movie, rather low-tension, but with beautiful images and convincing actresses.” However, it is “less of an agent film than a philosophical study of communication through images, real contact prevents and makes people mentally disturbed loners. "

The film magazine Artechock writes that “with McGregor as the eye and Ashley Judd as Joanna, a magical film couple emerged.” The two main actors make the film “the ideal case for a literary adaptation, precisely gathered, played with restraint and inviting all sorts of interpretations”.

Awards

Director Stephan Elliott was awarded the Silver Raven at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2000.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The eye. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Critique of the film magazine Artechock