Paradise: Faith
| Movie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Original title | Paradise: Faith | ||
| Country of production | Austria , Germany , France | ||
| original language | German | ||
| Publishing year | 2012 | ||
| length | 114 minutes | ||
| Age rating | FSK 16 | ||
| Rod | |||
| Director | Ulrich Seidl | ||
| script | Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz |
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| production | Ulrich Seidl | ||
| camera |
Wolfgang Thaler , Ed Lachman |
||
| cut | Christof Schertenleib | ||
| occupation | |||
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| chronology | |||
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Paradies: Glaube is a feature film by the Austrian director Ulrich Seidl from 2012. The film is the second part of Seidl's Paradise trilogy . It premiered as part of the competition at the 69th Venice Film Festival .
action
X-ray assistant Anna Maria has dedicated her life to Catholicism. Numerous crucifixes and images of saints hang in her house. To atone for the sins of her fellow human beings, she whips herself with a leather whip or slides down on her knees in prayer. She gathers with like-minded people in the prayer group “Legio Herz Jesu”, whose highest goal is to convert Austria back to Catholicism. While her sister Teresa is traveling to Kenya as a sex tourist and her daughter Melanie is trying to shed pounds in the Wechsel Mountains, Anna Maria spends her vacation evangelizing the neighborhood equipped with a statue of the Wandering Mother of God . Her peace of mind is severely disturbed when suddenly her paraplegic husband Nabil returns from Egypt after years of absence. His desire for physical and emotional closeness leads to an absurd guerrilla war that is fought hard on both sides.
background
As is usual with Seidl, in Paradies: Belief, amateur actors are also used alongside professional actors such as Maria Hofstätter and Natalya Baranova. The male lead was cast after months of auditions with the Egyptian Nabil Saleh, who lives in Vienna. In order to convincingly embody the figure of a paraplegic, he prepared intensively with occupational therapy exercises. René Rupnik, about whom Seidl made the documentary The Best Friend in 1997, can also be seen in a supporting role .
The Paradies project was originally intended to consist of only one feature film with three storylines. Only in the course of post-production did Seidl decide to split the stories into three films.
Paradise: Faith premiered on August 30, 2012 in the competition at the Venice International Film Festival . A few months earlier, Paradise: Love had already been shown in the Cannes competition . In February 2013, Paradise: Hope competed for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale . The trick of being represented in the competition with three different films at the three most important A festivals in the world within less than 12 months was only achieved by Krzysztof Kieślowski with his three-color trilogy .
The depiction of sacred objects as objects of sexual pleasure, especially in a scene in which Anna Maria masturbates with the help of a crucifix, caused a scandal after the premiere in Italy. The ultra-conservative Catholic organization “NO 194” then reported Seidl and other actors in the film to the public prosecutor in Venice for blasphemy. The organization's president stated that Seidl had "insulted two billion Christians in the world for whom the cross is a symbol of their religion" .
The film opened in Austrian cinemas on January 11, 2013 and in German cinemas on March 21.
Reviews
“Hofstätter's admirable game and Seidl's flawless staging prevent the audience from condemning or abhorring the character of Anna. What makes it really difficult to keep your eyes on the screen in this Ulrich Seidl film is rather the incredibly authentic representation of Christian self-righteousness. "
“Some will find Ulrich Seidl's“ Paradise: Faith ”blasphemous, others brilliant. The controversies that the film could provoke are, if you follow US director John Waters, willed by God: Fassbinder is dead, so God gave us Ulrich Seidl. "
“Paradies: Glaube” is tailored entirely to the leading actress Maria Hofstätter, who has been part of the director's ensemble since her much-noticed role as the hitchhiker's guide in Hundstage (2001). Like her director, she confidently manages the fluid change between comical and depressing moments, between caricature and a complex drawn figure with tragic dimensions. "
Awards
Paradise: Faith was awarded the special jury prize at the Venice International Film Festival in 2012. It also received the CinemAvvenire award for best film in the competition. Maria Hofstätter was for her portrayal of Anna Maria at the Austrian Film Award in 2014 as Best Female Actress Award.
Web links
- Paradise: Faith in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official Austrian website of the Paradise Trilogy
- Official German website of the Paradise Trilogy
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paradise: Faith in the Competition of the 69th Venice Film Festival (English)
- ↑ Cast + Crew from Paradies: Glaube on the official German website of the Paradies Trilogy
- ^ The bosom friend on Ulrich Seidl's website, accessed on March 25, 2013
- ↑ Claus Philipp: Interview with Ulrich Seidl (PDF; 3.1 MB), Paradise: Love Press Kit, accessed on December 15, 2012
- ↑ Josef Schnelle: Bizarre search for salvation in religious madness , interview with Ulrich Seidl on Deutschlandfunk, March 16, 2013
- ↑ Alexandra Zawia: Ulrich Seidl in an interview on the blasphemy allegations wienerzeitung.at, September 3, 2012
- ^ "NO 194" wants to proceed as a civil plaintiff against Seidl relevant.at, September 4, 2012
- ↑ Paradies: Glaube filmering.at, January 4, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2013
- ↑ Paradies: Glaube Filmstarts.de , accessed on March 25, 2013
- ↑ Wenke Husmann: In the Darkroom of Catholicism. zeit.de, March 21, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Jörg Schöning: Seidl-Film "Paradise: Faith": My Lustknabe am Kreuz. spiegel.de, March 20, 2013, accessed on March 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Michael Kienzl: Paradise: Faith. Critic.de, August 31, 2012, accessed March 25, 2013 .
- ↑ Ulrich Seidl receives the special prize from the jury on format.at in Venice , September 10, 2012