Gutland (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Gutland |
 | |
| Country of production | Luxembourg , Belgium , Germany |
| original language | Luxembourgish , German |
| Publishing year | 2018 |
| length | 107 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Govinda Van Maele |
| script | Govinda Van Maele |
| music | Mocke (di Dominique Depret) |
| camera | Narayan Van Maele |
| cut | Stefan Stabenow |
| occupation | |
| |
Gutland is the first feature film by the Luxembourg director Govinda Van Maele . The film, with its elements of thriller , film noir , surreal and homeland film , had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2017 .
content
After an armed attack on a Cologne casino, the German Jens Fauser fled to the Luxembourg village of Schandelsmillen, just across the German-Luxembourg border. He pretends to be looking for a job as a harvest worker. At first he is rejected because the harvest is already drawing to a close and Germans rarely work as farm laborers. At a village festival, he meets the attractive Lucy, the single mother and daughter of the mayor. They get closer and Jens spends the night with her. The next morning he is offered a job. He is also allowed to live free of charge in a caravan on the edge of the farm, is provided with clothes and recruited as a trumpeter for the village band, as this position is currently vacant. Obviously everything boils down to a harmonious integration into village life, and the hiding place seems perfect, especially since his two accomplices are also hiring out farm workers in other villages and the police are looking for a group of three. Jens buried the booty from the attack in the forest.
The next few weeks passed in bucolic peace. Jens seems to be accepted by the initially suspicious village community. Jens soon suspects, however, that the village is by no means as idyllic and harmless as it seems. Jens catches a village boy playing in his trailer. While escaping from Jens, the boy loses a pile of nude photos, apparently of women from the village. The photos are amateurish, the faces unrecognizable. One night he secretly observes Lucy going to a farm outside the village. During the day he visits the farm. Leftovers on the table and in the refrigerator indicate that the resident left the property in a hurry. Lucy explains that she is now using this house as her "island" to be able to escape her dreary everyday life, at least for a while, to smoke weed and ponder. The owner, Georges, suddenly disappeared one day without leaving a message, but nobody mourned the unpopular Georges.
The affair between Jens and Lucy continues and they both move into the abandoned house. They are renovating it, and people in the village wonder where the money comes from. At a bowling evening, his employer's wife tries to seduce Jens in the toilet. She warns him that if she were caught, Jens would end up in the manure ditch. However, Jens refuses the offer. When Jens is sent into a maize field, supposedly to look for an animal carcass, he sees himself being followed by a combine harvester, which apparently intended to catch up with him and run over him.
Lucy asks for more toughness in bed, after being hit and choked, and calls him "Georges". When Jens looks at the nude photos one more time, he notices that the photos were taken in this house. He examines the farm's manure ditch and finds Georges' body. Fearing the same fate, he flees in a panic, is pursued and incapacitated by a stunning shot. When he wakes up, his mane of hair is cut off and his beard shaved off. The village remains friendly, however, and the mayor welcomes him as a son-in-law. From now on he is called Georges and he fits in with village life.
When his former accomplices show up and seek hiding in the forest with Jens and Lucy at gunpoint, the money has disappeared. There are arguments, hunters from the village appear, one of the robbers is shot down. The dogs are chased on the other. Jens finally shoots his former comrade with the rifle that someone from the hunting party hands him. Jens now takes over the identity of the dead George, continues his life with Lucy and in his former house and plays the trumpet in the marching band.
production
In addition to the production companies Les Films Fauves , Propeller Film and Novak Prod , arte and ZDF were also involved in the production. The budget was 3 million euros.
The shooting took place on 37 days of shooting in summer and December 2016. The villages of Herborn and Dickweiler in Gutland were used as locations . The lake shown in the film is the reservoir on the Ober-Sauer. The film was shot on 35 mm film .
publication
The film had its world premiere on September 7, 2017 in Toronto . In 2018, invitations to competitions followed, including a. the Max Ophüls Festival , the Festival Premiers plans d'Angers , the International Film Festival Rotterdam , the Luxembourg City Film Festival . At the festivals, the film will be shown in the original languages Luxembourgish and German with English subtitles. Neither a DVD nor a Blu-ray Disc of the film has yet been produced; it can be reached via Amazon / Prime Video.
The official theatrical release in Germany was May 3, 2018.
criticism
At Rotten Tomatoes , the film achieved a positive rate of 78%.
Gutland was named “Best Film” at the Luxembourg Film Prize in 2018, and Vicky Krieps was named “Best Actress”.
The Hollywood Reporter describes the film as an “unconventional and superbly photographed thriller” and an impressive debut.
“(…) The Luxembourg director Govinda Van Maele stirs up these mysterious moments. The horror is around the corner, lurking everywhere. (...) Because Jens is gradually being integrated into the village community, also taking part because he doesn't want to be blown up, now playing in the marching band, although he doesn't know any instrument. What the others are surprisingly lenient with. Or is there something completely different behind the villagers' willingness to accept? Do you have something to hide too? Because Jens notices that Lucy goes to an abandoned house night after night and feeds the dog. In his trailer he finds self-made nude photos that are missing their heads. And when his two cronies show up and want the money he has hidden in the forest, they are shot and dumped in the cesspool. That goes beyond pure friendship. (...) Because the villagers also have a plan, but Jens only realizes that much too late in this noir thriller, which puts out strings and finally pulls them like a noose around Jens' neck. Sure, in the end it gets a bit quick, but until then »Gutland« is a successful piece of German-language genre cinema. "
Web links
- Gutland in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Gutland at crew united
- Jutta Brendemuehl: TIFF 2017 Review: Govinda Van Maele's 'Gutland'
Individual evidence
- ↑ Approval certificate for Gutland . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 178185 / K).
- ↑ Screen Daily, March 19, 2018 , accessed April 27, 2018.
- ↑ Cinando.com Gutland , accessed April 26, 2018
- ↑ “Gutland” conquers Toronto Tageblatt Letzeburg, September 7, 2017, accessed on April 26, 2018.
- ↑ Gutland, Prime Video
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes, Gutland , accessed August 25, 2019
- ↑ Gutland ': Film Review, TIFF 2017 Hollywood Reporter, September 18, 2017, accessed April 26, 2018
- ^ Rudolf Worschech: Critique of Gutland. April 27, 2018, accessed May 4, 2019 .