Free will

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Movie
Original title Free will
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2006
length 163 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Matthias Glasner
script Matthias Glasner ,
Jürgen Vogel ,
Judith Angerbauer
production Christian Granderath ,
Frank Döhmann ,
Matthias Glasner ,
Jürgen Vogel
camera Matthias Glasner
cut Matthias Glasner
occupation

Free will is a German movie by Matthias Glasner from 2006. It tells the story of a rapist who, after being released from prison, begins a relationship with a young woman who in turn was psychologically abused by her father for years. The actors Jürgen Vogel and Sabine Timoteo can be seen in the main roles . The film had its world premiere on February 13, 2006 at the Berlinale . The film opened in German cinemas on August 24, 2006.

action

The frustrated kitchen helper Theo Stoer raped a young cyclist on the Baltic coast. He was arrested a few hours later. Because of this crime and two other rapes, the court sent him to a closed psychiatric institution for censorship . After nine years, Theo comes to a supervised shared apartment in Mülheim an der Ruhr on probation .

Probation officer Sascha gives Theo a job in a print shop. In order to let off steam, Theo does strength training and a martial arts; he satisfies his sexual needs through masturbation. In everyday life, Theo finds it difficult on the one hand to control himself and to approach people. He is interested in a waitress at the Pizzeria Trattoria Funghi , but does not dare to speak to her. When Sascha encourages him, he manages to overcome his anxiety. However, she refuses the offer to go out with him.

One day Theo meets Nettie, the distraught daughter of the widowed print shop owner. Despite initial difficulties in getting closer together, the first tender bonds develop. Before a real relationship can develop, however, Nettie begins an internship in a Belgian praline factory. Since the probation officer has been released and moved to Berlin, Theo is left alone. One evening he is about to rape a saleswoman who was serving him in a department store just before closing time. He secretly follows her over the subway to her apartment. But he can pull himself together and leaves the apartment unnoticed.

Theo then visits Nettie unannounced in Belgium. When he can't find his own hotel room on a rainy evening, Nettie takes him to her room, where he secretly lies with her at night. In the morning there is first contact. After her work Theo picks up Nettie and goes with her to a church, where he has prepared a surprise for her: the organ plays and a soprano sings the song " Ave Maria ", which was on the radio the night before.

Theo and Nettie get together, but quickly realize that they are both tormented souls. While Theo has to deal with his desire for women, Nettie has been fighting against the psychological attacks of her own father for years. When Nettie returns to Mülheim, Theo moves in with her.

Back in Germany, Theo realizes that he will never be able to suppress his urges. When Nettie goes out with other people one evening and transfers him, he wanders the streets and rapes another woman.

When they return, Theo tells his girlfriend about his past and breaks up. He also admits that he relapsed the day before. She fled to her father. When she returned to the apartment the next day, the furniture was smashed and Theo disappeared.

Nettie seeks out a woman who was raped by Theo nine years ago. First, the woman assumes that Nettie is also a rape victim and goes with her to a café. Nettie admits, however, that she is not a victim, but Theo is a friend and that she has the woman's address from a journalist. The woman follows Nettie to the toilet, hits her, forcibly pulls her pants down and abuses her.

Nettie suspects that Theo has disappeared to Sascha in Berlin. She manages to find the two. She secretly pursues Theo and observes that he is interested in a young woman who goes home alone and is persecuting her. She loses them both in the crowd at a fair.

Theo disappears at the train station the next morning, Nettie follows him on the train to the sea. When he was sitting in a hotel bar, she had the receptionist give her the room key “as a friend” and discovered that he had already laid razor blades ready for a suicide attempt in the full bathtub. She leaves the hotel in shock. When she later takes the initiative and returns to the room, the water is drained and the blades are gone.

She finds him on the beach at night and can't prevent him from slitting his wrists there in her presence. Resigned, she lets it happen and takes him in her arms, where he gradually bleeds to death.

interpretation

The typical happy ending does not take place. The fact that Nettie does not seek any help or tries to prevent Theo from suicide shows the view of determinism , as she thinks that Theo's end is already predetermined. Another explanation emerges from the title: after their relationship based on unconditional loyalty and self-determination, Nettie, despite all the sadness, is unable to encroach upon Theo's free will.

Characters

Theo Stoer

Theo Stoer's psychological state seems to be very unstable at first. Despite his 9 years of therapy in the prison , Theo shows abnormalities of an enormous internal conflict . Although he is able to identify his problems on his own, he cannot deal with them properly. He tries to counteract his problems through sporting activities and to clear his head for a short period of time (inner peace). He counteracts his sexual urges with masturbation . Accordingly, he now seems to be free of action, but not free of will. According to Sigmund Freud's theory of instances ( structural model of the psyche # Das Es ), Theos' inner conflict between the id (instincts) and the superego ( morality , understanding ) takes place. In Theo's case, the moral authority does not seem to be able to win this conflict. In the course of the film, the id gains more and more influence and thus wrestles the superego, the last hurdle of morality. So he finally succumbs to his instincts. From a post-Freudian and also from today's psychoanalytic point of view, an interpretation as conflict pathology appears risky. The representation of the character rather speaks for a strong structural pathology , in particular falling disorders of impulse control , frustration tolerance , emotional regulation and emotional tolerance on.

Nettie Engelbrecht

Nettie, the daughter of a print shop owner, grows up alone with her father. This limits them in their self-realization by making them professionally and socially dependent on themselves. According to Sigmund Freud's theory, her father's upbringing takes precedence over the superego . As some scenes in the film show, this influence takes on pathological features. The father acts like their conscience . Their thirst for freedom, which occupies the authority of the id, predominates, but their goal of being independent seems almost unattainable. After her move out, her actions become more free, which leads to a relationship with Theo in which she experiences a liberating love, in contrast to the restrictive love of her father. After the end of the partnership , she wants to keep the feeling of happiness, which is why she seems more courageous and dares to take the initiative and pursue Theo. She flees briefly to her father to make up for the lack of love. When Theo finally kills herself, she is desperate and helpless. Despite her emancipation in the course of the film, she finally falls back into her old role of the little girl who cannot cope alone.

Reviews

“A film which, in its drastic form, is sometimes very close to the limits of what is bearable. How the director and leading actor expressively engage with the 'monster' in order to get the viewer to accept it as a human being may deserve attention; All the more irritating is the deeply pessimistic image of man, according to which the characters are only the slaves of their uncontrollable inner 'demons'. Sexuality is propagated as fate, whereby the film assumes deterministic behavioral patterns in which there is no place for change and the only way out is self-sacrifice. "

- Lexicon of international film

“Matthias Glasner serves hard cinema fare: 'Free will' is about a rapist who cannot control his criminal instinct. A psychogram of fear and self-hatred with a brilliant Jürgen Vogel. "

- Focus on film

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Free will. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 28, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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