Import export
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Import export |
| Original title | Import export |
| Country of production | Austria |
| original language | German , Russian , Slovak |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 135 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Ulrich Seidl |
| script | Ulrich Seidl and Veronika Franz |
| production | Ulrich Seidl |
| camera | Edward Lachman , Wolfgang Thaler |
| cut | Christof Schertenleib |
| occupation | |
| |
Import Export is a 2007 film by the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl . It premiered at the 60th Cannes Film Festival in the competition for the Palme d'Or on May 21st.
action
Whether in Austria or the Ukraine , in both countries it is cold, wet, dreary in winter and people are freezing. At first glance, it doesn't look that much different in the other region. But the film tells about two different fates that try their luck with " import " and " export ".
Part of the film accompanies Olga, a young Ukrainian woman. She is the mother of a toddler and works as a nurse. Since her employer only pays part of the salary, Olga tries to earn money through pornography using an internet webcam. She decides to go to Austria without her child, where a friend of hers lives. There she finds work as a cleaning lady , but loses it just as quickly as her job as a housekeeper in a city villa . On the other hand, working in a geriatric ward , where she made acquaintance with residents and nurses, turned out to be permanent .
The young unemployed Viennese Paul, known as Pauli, is not doing much better. Pauli loses his new job as a security guard and has problems paying off his debts to friends, acquaintances and his stepfather Michael. The employment office cannot help him either. After all, he and his stepfather go to Eastern Europe, including the Ukraine, to set up old slot machines there . For Pauli the right opportunity to pay off his debts to Michael and to hide from his creditors.
Several motifs are dealt with in both stories. The subject of prostitution is first portrayed from the perspective of the sex workers (Olga and her work colleagues), while Paul's story illuminates the perspective of male clients . After Paul refuses an offer, Michael takes a very young prostitute in the Ukraine to his hotel room, whom he humiliates in various ways to show Paul the power of money, says Michael. This scene is probably one of the most brutal in Seidl's work. Based on the motif of prostitution, many other topics in the film are dealt with, such as the power of gender norms, the consequences of poverty, sex tourism or the use of violence.
The figures Paul and Olga are simultaneously contrasting and correspondence figures. Both are of the same age and are in financial need, which they want to fight by moving to the other country. At the same time, her journey is also a search for identity. Despite their different origins, Paul and Olga share similar needs and concerns, highlighting aspects of human and social life that exist independently of culture and nation.
background
- The film was shot on 16 mm and 35 mm film in 2005 and 2006 in Vienna , Ukraine , Romania , the Czech Republic and Slovakia and was completed in May 2007.
- Import Export was shown in the “International Program” series at the Munich Film Festival in June .
- The film was Austria's only nomination for the European Film Award 2007.
- With Maria Hofstätter , Georg Friedrich and Erich Finsches, three actors from Seidl's previous feature film Hundstage will play again. The brief appearance by Dirk Stermann , a very well-known cabaret artist in Austria, is particularly striking , as Seidl uses otherwise unknown actors or amateur actors in his films. Stermann's appearance could be understood as an indication of the fictional character of the film, while the rest of the film, as always with Seidl, is very authentic.
reception
Tobias Kniebe wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the film was "hard work" . Import Export is "a film that was wrested from the snowstorms in Ukraine as well as from the Austrian hospital bureaucracy or the shame of its protagonists - but precisely this creates a force that could never be achieved otherwise . " The film is one of the best films in the competition for the Golden Palm . In Die Welt , on the other hand, Hanns-Georg Rodek criticized the film as being too long and Seidl "too much in love with bitter sadness" .
The lexicon of international films judges: “ The film describes two movements from east to west and vice versa and confronts the all-encompassing horror of a society that is based on exploitation down to the last ramification of modes of transport. Despite the uncompromising harshness, it is not a pessimistic film, as it allows its main characters moral integrity and is able to trigger humanistic impulses in the viewer. "
Web links
- Official website website Ulrich Seidl
- Import Export in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Inge Kutter: Im Abgrund , review in Die Zeit , October 16, 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ DiePresse.com: European Film Prize: Ulrich Seidl's "Import Export" selected , September 4, 2007
- ↑ Tobias Kniebe: Cabin boy in a red evening dress . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 22, 2007
- ^ Hanns-Georg Rodek : Volker Schlöndorffs Roadmovie & Co. In: Die Welt , May 23, 2007
- ^ Journal film-dienst and Catholic Film Commission for Germany (eds.), Horst Peter Koll and Hans Messias (ed.): Lexikon des Internationale Films - Filmjahr 2007 . Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-89472-624-9