Matcollis
This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
AniInterview
Sorry, this movie sucks
BroadcastChic
Excellent, a Must See
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Wolke 9" or "Cloud 9" is a German movie from 2008, so this one will have its 10th anniversary next year. The writer and director is Andreas Dresen, one of Germany's most successful filmmakers and possibly the most successful from the former GDR right now. The title of this movie is a play on words (and numbers) with the German "Wolke 7", where you find people that are in love, so the translation Cloud 9 is not accurate at all as it should be Cloud 10 or 11 perhaps. Anyway, this movie here is about a woman slightly under the age of 70, who has been married for a long time, but falls in love with another man. This has drastic consequences of course on her life, on her husband's life and also on the new guy's life. This film received major awards recognition at several prestigious ceremonies, such as the Cannes Film Festival or the European Film Awards. At the German Film Awards, Dresen won for his direction, Werner won for her lead performance and the movie itself was picked as one of the top three of the year.I personally felt as if this film needed quite a while to get going and become interesting. But from the moment on when her husband finds out about the affair, even if that is already pretty late in the movie, things get better quickly and I was mostly underwhelmed before that. I would also say that i was not too impressed by Werner here. She did what she had to and she wasn't bad, but it was nowhere near such an awards-worthy turn in my opinion. I guess they honored her because of her courage as she is in nude and sex scenes despite her age. The film is much more about the script here than about individual performances. The depiction of life and sexuality above the age of 60 is something that is just not done frequently in film, maybe because many don't find it too much of an interesting, let alone, aesthetic topic. So it's okay that Dresen did it I guess. But being different is not the same as being good, so you should not appreciate a film merely for the reason that it elaborates on a subject that has not been elaborated on that much. You still have to deliver quality. For example there are hundreds of Nazi-themed films out there and occasionally, they still manage to make convincing new ones despite the quantity of films existing already from this corner of the movie genre world.Anyway, all in all, I recommend "Wolke 9" as it was a decent watch and there were no real weaknesses about the film. At 95 minutes, it is already pretty essential, even if it dragged on some occasions in the first half of the film. What I also liked, however, were the musical interruptions here that provided a strong contrast to the more serious scenes that came before or after these. "Freude schöner Götterfunken" is always a joy for sure. I give this movie a thumbs-up, but just a cautious one and I think the awards attention really may have been far too much.
gberke
An old lady falls in love with an old man, not her husband. She and the old man have wonderful sex, and she finds herself compelled to continue against her wishes "I didn't want this" she will say again and again. It is a bit alarming, this portrayal of a mature woman in a good relationship, with a daughter, grandchildren, a good an settled life when she finds herself acting methodically but out of control... she is filled with desire for this new man's company, and out of a sense of honesty she is compelled to tell her husband and indeed, leave him. "I didn't want this" she will say... This is not a young thing, inexperienced, taken away by some mad youthful forbidden fling, This is an adult, a mature and capable woman who is nonetheless taken up as if she were just that young thing, bereft of responsibility, consumed and driven to pursue that new love, wonderfully fresh. How can this not destroy her family? "I didn't want this." It is a little bit frightening, that for all she has, her emotions can pull her away and out of her family, surely able to know the damage that must be done but unable to experience that created pain against the overwhelming passion she has incautiously stumbled into. A lovely, revealing, cautionary tale. The audience itself seems similarly drawn in, enjoying the romance but unwilling to accept what would clearly be an expected outcome: pain.
Dennis Vansant
Films about how elderly people conceive love and romance are usually ones with potential. This one, however, isn't. The main problem with this film is the poor character development, making all characters extremely unsympathetic and impossible to sense empathy for as a viewer. Especially Werner, the stereotypical old grump in this show, is extremely selfish and only makes the viewer feel hatred towards him, instead of sympathy. In a final act of selfishness, he takes his own life, taking his unsympatheticness to a whole new level. One of the worst films to come out of Germany recently: you can get a lot more value for your buck at your local movie theater than this.
Stephan Ortmann
Sometimes you watch movies that are pretty empty. Well, this is one of them. A woman falls for another man in an affair that seems to be only motivated by sex. After some arguing, she decides to choose her new boyfriend and leave her husband for 30 years. After that, her husband dies, probably of suicide. (That is really not explained). This all takes a very long time. Except for the songs of a choir, there is not really a soundtrack. This makes it more difficult to understand the emotions and also makes some very long scenes very boring. What stands out for me, is that this woman decides against her love for life even though she still loves him, for a life of sex. And that her daughter agrees with her and even encourages her to continue. If that were my mother, I would certainly advise against a thing like that.While some acting was good, others was not very convincing. I especially think the directing lacked coherence. The use of rain and colors did not clearly add to the meaning of the film. Perhaps, the lack of a score did really make this movie really appear empty. This is reinforced at the end, when the "new" couple hold to each other shortly after the tragic event. All this adds up to a very poor movie. Definitely not recommended if you want to have an enjoying evening.