Only clouds move the stars

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Movie
German title Only clouds move the stars
Original title Bare skyer beveger stjernene
Country of production Norway
original language Norwegian
Publishing year 1998
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK o.A.
Rod
Director Torun Lian
script Torun Lian
production John M. Jacobsen
music Jørn Christensen
camera Svein Krøvel
cut Trygve Hagen
occupation

The children's and youth film Only Clouds Move the Stars is a Norwegian drama from 1998.

The film adaptation was based on the book It is the clouds that move the stars by Torun Lian . She also wrote the script for this film and directed it. The book won the Norwegian Children's Literature Prize and the film received 12 film awards.

action

Subject

11-year-old Maria is confronted with the death of her little brother. At first Maria withdraws into herself. Through the boy Jakob of the same age, she finally manages to come to terms with her grief.

introduction

11-year-old Maria's little brother has died. During the funeral, she asks her brother for a sign whether he is still there. Then a flower falls from the flower arrangement on the coffin. This gives Maria some comfort in her grief.

Bulk

The next few days are not easy for Maria. At school, you all want to help, ask how she is, but Maria only replies with the usual 'I'm fine'. She begins to withdraw more and more in her grief. It is even worse in her family. Her mother cannot cope with the death of her youngest child at all and falls into deepest melancholy.

Her overburdened parents then send Maria to her grandparents at the beginning of the summer vacation. Maria feels pushed away and withdraws even further. But then she meets Jacob, who is the same age. Gradually Jacob succeeds in getting to Maria.

At first, Maria Jakob tells a lot of invented stories. Her brother lives in them, but her mother has died. Because Maria had a dream in which she realized that her mother no longer loves her. When Jacob finally learned the whole truth behind Mary's fate, he confronts her. She sends him away.

At the end of the vacation, Maria has to go back and the happy time with Jakob is over for her. Her mother has since left the family and moved in with Maria's uncle and aunt. Maria's grief begins again, but then Jakob appears, who is in town with his mother for a few days. In Maria's dream, the mother does not come up to her and Jacob asks her why she does not go to her mother. Maria has to admit that she didn't want that.

Enough

Finally strengthened, Maria decides to talk to her mother, and she drives to her aunt and uncle. There she manages to free her mother from her melancholy. And so she finally realizes that her mother still loves her.

Summary

construction

The film has the classic film drama structure. It begins right in the introduction with a dramatic situation that plunges the main character Maria into an emotional low. This gets deeper and deeper until the middle of the 2nd sequence in which Maria meets Jacob. This turns the plot around.

Maria gets more courage to face life again and the structure of the plot becomes more optimistic. However, the tension is always kept alive by occasional setbacks, until the final resolution takes place, and Maria not only overcomes her own grief, but can also free her mother from her depression.

people

Maria is in the transition phase to become a teenager. At this point, she is confronted with the death of her little brother. When she now realizes that even adults are having a hard time cope with this stroke of fate, and her mother falls into the deepest depression, she thinks that her mother no longer loves her. Then Maria falls back completely into the role of a helpless child and crawls into herself. Only through Jacob, who is of the same age, does she finally regain self-confidence and can thus take her fate into her own hands.

Jakob is a bright boy who is quite smart for his age. Jakob has also suffered minor blows of fate in his life and lives alone with his mother. But he didn't let it get him down and grew from it. In this way he can help Maria, who has withdrawn into herself, so that she can take the same step.

The mother experiences a difficult fate - the death of her own child. The situation breaks her up so that she can no longer take care of her eldest daughter.

Reviews

“Convincing, engaging, sad and funny. You will be happy to have seen this film, even if after hours you will still feel a lump in your throat. ”
Dagbladet

"Loving and touching, warm-hearted and witty - 'Only the clouds move the stars' is the multi-award-winning directorial debut of the Norwegian Torun Lian based on her novel of the same name."
Dirk Jasper (Dirk Jasper FilmLexikon)

"This film not only moves the stars, but also our deepest emotions."
Romerikets Blad

“A credibly developed and played 'chamber play' that, despite some constructional weaknesses, is convincing as a sensitive approach to existential and religious questions. In view of the heaviness of dialogue, it is above all the quieter visual moments in which the film develops a great feeling for the meaning of love, friendship and the joy of being . ”
Film-dienst 2000-11

"Author Torun Lian makes a remarkable directorial debut ... thoughtful and moving."
Variety

"The deep melancholy and the growing will to bring yourself and your mother back to life, all of this is reflected in the wonderfully expressive face of the leading actress." Zitty 1999-04

"A heartwarming marvel ... truly magical."
The Hollywood Reporter

“Although the focus is on mourning the death of a little boy from cancer, this moving children's film is life-affirming through and through.”
Cinema 2000-06

Awards

The director and writer Torun Lian received 10 awards for Only Clouds Moving the Stars , including a Transparent Bear at the Berlinale 1999, as well as 3 awards at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck and the first Norwegian to receive the Swedish Ingmar Bergman Award. The leading actress Thea Sofie Rusten received two awards for best actress for her only film role to date; at the French Nordic Film Festival in Rouen and at the Russian International Film Festival in Sochi.

The film was Norway's nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1999 Academy Awards , but was neither nominated nor awarded.

Festival / Film Critics Association Award country year person
Amanda , Norway
 Best movie Norway 1999 Torun Lian
Berlinale
Special mention Germany 1999 Torun Lian
Nordic Film Days Lübeck Prize of the Children's Jury
NDR Prize
Honorary Prize 		Germany 1998 Torun Lian
Children's Film Festival in Montreal
Grand Prix of Montreal Startec Prize 		Canada 2000 Torun Lian
The norske filmfestivalen Silver nuggets Norway 1999 Torun Lian
Nordic Film Festival in Rouen Audience
Award for Best Actor 		France 1999 Torun Lian
Thea Sofie Rusten
Seattle International Film Festival Director award United States 1999 Torun Lian
International film festival in Sochi Best actor Russia 1999 Thea Sofie Rusten
Guldbagge Ingmar Bergman Prize Sweden 2000 Torun Lian

literature

Web links