Whatever Works - love yourself who can
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Whatever Works - love yourself who can |
| Original title | Whatever Works |
| Country of production | United States , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Woody Allen |
| script | Woody Allen |
| production |
Letty Aronson , Stephen Tenenbaum |
| music | Cliff Eidelman |
| camera | Harris Savides |
| cut | Alisa Lepselter |
| occupation | |
| |
Whatever Works - Love yourself who can (Original title: Whatever Works ) is a romantic comedy film that was filmed in New York in spring 2008 and opened on April 22, 2009 the Tribeca Film Festival . Directed by Woody Allen .
action
Whatever Works is the story of the more or less ingenious eccentric Boris Yellnikoff, who after attempting suicide no longer works as a physics professor (who was once nominated for the Nobel Prize), separated from his wife and has since lived alone in the Lower East Side . One day the young and naive Melody pushes into his life, who has run away from her conservative Christian home. Despite their very different characters and different levels of education, the older New Yorker and the open-minded Southerner first become friends and then, regardless of their age difference, even a married couple. In the marriage with the young woman Boris can better control his panic attacks , while Melody noticeably takes over the language style and worldview (such as atheism and pseudo- nihilism ) of her husband, but neither loses her naivety nor her zest for life.
A year later, Melody's mother, Marietta, appears unexpectedly, who has been abandoned by her husband. Since she disapproves of her daughter's marriage, she repeatedly tries to set her daughter up with a younger man. At the same time she was introduced to Boris' circles, becoming increasingly emancipated, was able to turn her hobby, photography , into a profession, and from then on lived with two men in a ménage à trois . Her husband, who later also appears with the Yellnikoffs, who now wants to win her back, is initially shocked by this change, but then discovers his own homosexuality during an alcoholic bar conversation with another unhappy abandoned man and finds a new life companion in his interlocutor.
In the end, Marietta's efforts are crowned with success and Melody actually falls in love with a younger man, which she admits to Boris after some hesitation. The latter then makes another suicide attempt: he jumps out of the window of his house, but lands on a passerby - a clairvoyant - with whom he then establishes a new relationship. At the end of the film, all protagonists have made happy new relationships and celebrate New Year's Eve in Yellnikoff's apartment.
A special feature of the film is that Boris repeatedly addresses the audience directly in the course of the plot, which the other characters perceive with incomprehension: He can look through the fourth wall , while his teammates only have a limited, intra-fictional view of things.
backgrounds
Evan Rachel Wood , who played Melody, described the film in an interview as "a classic Woody Allen, but still different from anything Allen has done before".
Woody Allen wrote the script back in the early 1970s, with Zero Mostel slated for the lead role, but who passed away in 1977. Thirty years later, Allen picked up the script again in order to avoid a strike by the Screen Actors Guild in 2009, whereby he only had to adjust some historical references according to his own statement.
The cost of production was around $ 15 million. Sony Pictures Classics has bought the rights for the US market . The studio had also acquired the rights to Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (1999).
It is also interesting that the director Woody Allen is married to a much younger woman, the adopted daughter of his ex-wife Mia Farrow , Soon-Yi Previn - there is an autobiographical parallel to the plot of the film. Filming locations were Manhattan and Queens . This makes Whatever Works the first film since Melinda and Melinda (2004) that Allen has shot again in his hometown of New York.
The cinema release in Germany took place on December 3, 2009; the Delphi Filmpalast in Berlin showed the film on the occasion of its 60th anniversary on November 3rd, the cinemas in the Hackesche Höfe on October 30th.
Soundtrack
| No. | title | Interpreter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hello I Must Be Going | Groucho Marx and Cast |
| 2 | Salty bubble | Tom Sharpsteen and His Orlando |
| 3 | Butterfly By | Heinz Kiessling |
| 4th | Honeymoon Swoon | Werner Tautz |
Web links
- Whatever Works - Love man for himself in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official German website
- Official English website
- Review on critic.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Certificate of Release for Whatever Works - love yourself who can . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , May 2010 (PDF; test number: 120 658 V).
- ↑ newsticker.welt.de ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ suicidegirls.com
- ↑ Interview with Woody Allen about the film (in English)
- ↑ reuters.com
- ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: announcement page for tip preview
