Elementary particles (film)

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Movie
Original title Elementary particles
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2006
length 108 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 14
Rod
Director Oskar Roehler
script Oskar Roehler
production Bernd Eichinger
Oliver Berben
music Martin Todsharow
camera Carl-Friedrich Koschnick
cut Peter R. Adam
occupation

Elementarteilchen is a German film by Oskar Roehler from 2006. It is based on the novel of the same name by Michel Houellebecq , but moves the plot from Paris to Berlin .

Premiere celebrated the film on 12 February 2006 at the 56th Berlinale . It was shown in German cinemas on February 23, 2006, and was released on DVD on October 5. The film was first shown on German free TV on March 27, 2008 on ARD .

action

Bruno and Michael are half brothers. Her mother Jane pushes her off to different grandmothers, so that neither of them know about each other at first.

After the sexually frustrated literature teacher Bruno, who writes right-wing extremist texts in his free time , immorally approached his pupil Johanna, he voluntarily went to Dr. Shepherd. He reveals to her that his previous life has consisted of a series of low points and setbacks. When he was two years old, his mother left him to emigrate to Puna , which is why he grew up with his grandmother. His grandfather died shortly after his arrival while hunting for mushrooms in the forest and was not found until three days after his death. When Bruno was 13 years old, his grandmother tragically died while preparing lunch. He was then taken to a boarding school , where he was harassed by older classmates. Once a year, he picked up his mother from boarding school and took him into a hippie - commune with. Bruno had his first sexual experience with a relative at his grandmother's funeral.

His current relationship is in a crisis, his wife has moved out of their apartment with his daughter, which is why he decides to make new contacts in an esoteric New Age camp. There he gets to know and love the sexually active Christiane. Together they live out their lust in swinger clubs with changing sex partners. Christiane collapses in a sex orgy - she suffers from an advanced stage of coccyx necrosis , her legs are now paralyzed and she is therefore dependent on a wheelchair. Bruno hesitates to confess to her and offer her to move in with him. Christiane dies by suicide when she plunges down from the balcony of her apartment. Bruno went to psychiatric treatment again and since then has lived on with the illusion that Christiane is living by his side. In the final shot mentioned below, you can see him sitting on the beach at the seaside resort, supposedly hand in hand with Christiane.

In contrast to him, Bruno's half-brother is not interested in women. The introverted Michael, mathematically gifted since his youth , has now devoted himself professionally to molecular biology with almost autistic devotion in order to discover new ways of reproducing human genome. Because his grandmother's grave had to be reburied due to the start of construction on the local federal road , he traveled to Winzhofen, the place of his childhood, where he met his childhood friend Annabelle again. As a schoolgirl, she had hoped in vain for her feelings for him to be reciprocated. She seduces Michael, who has never slept with a woman before, and they become lovers. Annabelle becomes pregnant, but is diagnosed with an abdominal tumor, which is why she has to have an abortion . Michael is rushing back from Ireland, where he has relocated for research, to assist her during her recovery. Finally he asks her to move in with him in Ireland, to which she agrees.

Shortly before leaving for Ireland, Michael and Annabelle say goodbye to Bruno by picking him up from the psychiatric clinic on a sunny day and spending a day together at the lake.

background

The film had an estimated budget of around 6 million euros . Elementary particles reached over 1.1 million viewers in European cinemas, including 840,000 in Germany, over 100,000 in Italy, 50,000 in France and 35,000 in Austria.

Most of the film was made in Berlin . In addition, exterior photos were taken at the train station in Hetschburg and interior photos were taken in the old rectory in Drößnitz .

criticism

The lexicon of international film recognizes elementary particles as a “film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Michel Houellebecq, which aims less to explore the culturally pessimistic expansions of the original than primarily the emotional state of the protagonists. A staging a bit too smooth, especially in the first half a parforce ride through the depths of human abysses that is convincing due to the excellent and committed actor ensemble. "

Michael Dlugosch wrote on filmrezension.de : “A strange shallowness instead of the socially critical cynicism of Houellebecq spreads in the film, which essentially changes the content of the novel.” He criticized the fact that “Roehler repeats itself thematically according to Agnes and his brothers , without any progress to achieve, ”and gave the film two out of five possible points.

On the other hand, Jan Schulz-Ojala spoke of a “sensation” in the Tagesspiegel : “The confident handling of the difficult material prepares the ground for two of the most beautiful, melancholy, broken sketches of love that one has seen in the cinema for a long time. (…) Humans are a species that has been overtaken by evolution, yet tenacious and therefore touching: Roehler transposes Houellebecq's credo as if dreamily into the close-up shots with which the camera explores the faces (…) ”.

Film music

The soundtrack contains the following 20 songs:

No. title
1. Elementary particles
2. Eternal temptation
3. Annabelle's letters
4th Lullaby
5. Longing, again and again
6th Beautiful animals
7th Search for meaning
8th. Two brothers, two worlds
9. Wonderful youth
10. Return
11. Cupid and Psyche
12. farewell
13. Annabelle's breathing
14th Path of knowledge
15th Place of change
16. Hope of closeness
17th Elementary particles
18th Christiane's way out
19th Search for hold
20th Bruno's way out

The titles listed below are not part of the official soundtrack, although they appear in the film:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for elementary particles . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2006 (PDF; test number: 104 962 K).
  2. ↑ Age designation for elementary particles . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b Start dates according to the Internet Movie Database
  4. ^ Filmdienst.de and Filmportal.de .
  5. ↑ Budget and box office results according to the Internet Movie Database
  6. ↑ Elementary particles in the Lumière database of the European Audiovisual Observatory
  7. ↑ a b locations according to the Internet Movie Database
  8. ↑ elementary particles. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  9. ↑ Michael Dlugosch: loners in society: elementary particles. Filmrezension.de of February 23, 2006.
  10. ↑ Jan Schulz-Ojala: Something like soul. In: Tagesspiegel from February 12, 2006.

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