The stuff dreams are made of
The stuff that dreams are made of is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Johannes Mario Simmel . Directed by Alfred Vohrer . The main roles are occupied by Hannelore Elsner , Herbert Fleischmann , Edith Heerdegen and Paul Neuhaus . Two journalists really only want to write one story about a refugee child and get deeper and deeper into an espionage affair.
action
In Czechoslovakia, the Prague Spring is coming to an end when the editorial team of the major tabloid magazines BLITZ (easy to recognize as an allusion to the " Quick " that Simmel worked for) received the result of a survey on the acceptance of differently exposed breasts Readership is presented. Editor-in-chief Herford wants to increase the circulation with sex stories and gives Roland the job of writing the series "Mann total". Roland, on the other hand, is more interested in a political story about an eleven-year-old Czech refugee child. He gets approval on the condition that he also provides the text for the series.
Roland and the photographer Bertie Engelhardt drive to a refugee camp near Bremen, where the child is currently staying. There the two happened to witness how a Hamburg pimp wanted to kidnap the Czech Irina. She fled Czechoslovakia to follow her lover Jan Bilka, who made her pregnant. Irina has his Hamburg phone number and the journalists make it possible for her to speak. However, Bilka hangs up again when he finds out who is calling him. The unexpected contact is very inconvenient for him. A little later the child is shot by strangers.
Roland and Engelhardt go to Hamburg with Irina, but their investigations are being hindered more and more rigorously. Possible witnesses are murdered, and German authorities are also conspicuously uncooperative.
Bilka deserted from Czechoslovakia and let go of the Central European deployment plans of the Warsaw Pact states . He wants to sell her to the CIA .
Roland and Engelhardt get caught between the fronts of the KGB, CIA and the German intelligence agency. Even Roland's superiors cannot be convinced that the insights gained so far need to be printed. For example, Seerose has good contacts with the Americans and does not want to endanger its position.
During all these events, Luise, at times mentally confused, wanders through Hamburg in search of Irina.
Roland lets Irina sign a permit for the publication of her story for 5,000 DM. He took a liking to her. Irina, who is seriously disappointed by Bilka, reciprocates the feelings. But she cannot break the connection completely because she is pregnant by Bilka.
Vladimir Monerow and Bilka's brother Vaclav visit Roland and Irina, a third agent joins them later. The KGB does not care about the existence of a traitor in the West and Monerow suggests that it is not only the Bilkas who will suffer from the publication of the story.
Bilka hands over his microfilm material to American agents on a beach near Helsinki. Engelhard followed in a taxi and photographed the people. When the people leaving again are chased, the vehicle is briefly stopped by a train and thus escapes an attack on the vehicle being pursued, in which two agents are killed and the others are captured. When the leader of the competition Mikhailov has what he wants in his hands, he shoots the previous owner and throws him out of the vehicle.
During the night there is a firefight with police officers at Helsinki airport. The victorious agents drive their car directly into a cargo plane via the tailgate and take off.
The situation in Hamburg is easing. The KGB has achieved its goal and the agents leave Roland and the others alone. On the plane it turns out that Bilka only delivered half of his booty. Mikhailov threatens Bilka. He claims that a certain George Bradshaw in New York already owns the other half. In New York, the plans are now being handed over to Seerose. He is arrested by two people in the street, but a few seconds later they are ambushed by a shooter with a silenced rifle. Water lily makes off in a hurry.
Herford had the printing of Roland's story stopped. It is now known that Water Lily has been in Russian service for 20 years. Herford is said to have had enough of politics and wants to stay out of it. Roland is convinced that there is more to it and refuses to just write “Man total”. The men split up in an argument.
Engelhard is threatened by two men and has to hand over his material.
Roland and Irina take care of their beginning relationship. When Engelhard comes to visit, he is upset about the loss of his material and predicts that Roland will fail with his intention to publish the story elsewhere, even if the tapes of the interviews are still available.
Roland is negotiating with a middleman to sell his story. He is said to have received an advance payment of DM 20,000 without a written contract, but refuses. The accommodating is all too accommodating to him.
After she has found Irina, Luise wanders around Frankfurt in search of her "friends" (mostly dead people from the past). In the refugee camp they believe she has disappeared in the moor and is looking for her there. Finally Luise collapses on the street and is taken to a hospital.
When Roland returns home, he finds Engelhardt murdered and the apartment ransacked. Irina was able to hide in the bathroom unnoticed. Roland is talking to Dr. Erkner on Luise. The old lady, who suffers from schizophrenia, is meanwhile completely insane and mentally in a different world with her friends. When Roland barely escapes a bomb attack, he and Irina leave the country with false passports. The two get married, and Roland raises Irina's child as his own.
Years later, Roland his notes a colleague (Johannes Mario Simmel) are available, which they titled The stuff that dreams are a key novel published.
Reviews
"'The stuff that dreams are made of' takes a critical look at the machinations of the tabloids and is an exciting and lavishly filmed agent story"
"Elaborate bestseller film adaptation with an effort to provide critical insights into agent activities and press practices in an entertaining way."
"With the film adaptation of The Stuff of which Dreams Are Made of, Vohrer created a groundbreaking thriller by German standards."
"(...) Author Simmel turns it into exciting, but eye-catching and the credibility of the sentiment sacrificing, but perfect movie numbers that Vohrer routinely illustrated." (Rating: 2 out of 4 possible stars - average) "
Awards
Paul Neuhaus was awarded the German Film Award as best young actor .
Interesting facts about the title
The title is a bon mot from Shakespeare's The Tempest .
literature
- Johannes Mario Simmel : The stuff dreams are made of. Novel . Full paperback edition, 24th edition. Droemer Knaur, Munich 1995, 607 pages, ISBN 3-426-00437-2 .
Web links
- The stuff that dreams are made in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Description at kino-zeit.de
- The stuff that dreams are made of at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Both in the original opening credits and on the original film posters, the comma in front of the relative clause , which is actually necessary according to the rules of German spelling, is missing .
- ↑ The stuff dreams are made of. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ^ Adolf Heinzlmeier, Berndt Schulz in Lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 779
- ↑ Comments by the Duden editorial team on the word "substance"