This film has a definite 80s feel and a Scandinavian/German dark undercurrent beneath the whimsy. Definitely not a romcom if that's what you like. It has a somewhat disturbing quality as it examines the nature of life - mostly mundane, with dreams rarely realized - as it maintains a tense undercurrent of death themes.
The main character, Marianne (who is so isolated no one refers to her by her actual name), is portrayed beautifully by Sagebrecht. In the opening scene she is floating in water, which is the way human life begins. Her life is dreary and lonely as a plain, overweight mortuary assistant who is only able to extend love and tenderness to corpses. Her bleak apartment is devoid of much decoration except a large old photograph showing a woman next to a man with a blacked out face. It is obvious from the age of the photo that these people are likely deceased, and it is later revealed that they are her parents. Marianne's mother is in fact dead. Her father was cruel and has been dead to her for most of her life.
Marianne hears a song from her adolescence in which a man is saying he will stay with his sugarbaby if she brings her love to him. While riding the subway, surrounded by people yet alone, she becomes infatuated with the young driver and stalks him. She learns that his wife is going out of town for a funeral (another death reference). She changes her appearance from bland to sexy, genuinely caring for herself for once instead of numbing out her pain with food. She becomes more confident and attractive and ends up seducing him.
In the beginning he is nearly as lifeless as the corpses she encounters, unresponsive to her touch, but through her caring and her sexuality he comes to life. They have both been existing in unfulfilling lives until they begin their relationship, and this dramatically transforms both of them. They hypomanically ride on his motorcycle as though flirting with death. Her apartment is now saturated in a rosy hue (rose colored glasses?) and they spend hours loving each other. She buys him fun clothes and, recalling his adolescent love of football, buys a foosball table. The relationship is dreamlike, and they don't even call each other by their first names. However, in one lengthy monologue after they make love, Marianne comes down to earth as she shares the story of her loneliness and how she came to extend tenderness to people after death, at the peak of their rejection by others.
Later they go out dancing and for perhaps the first time in her life she is the center of attention. They both seem to forget that his wife is returning. When she does, beating Marianne and dehumanizing her by repeating "disgrace", the crowd silently watches, allowing her to return to her isolated, lowly status. Even her lover has returned to his numbness as he allows his wife to beat her and then himself without protest. He has returned to his bland, passive life as an ignored spouse and a civil servant who does his routine job as he is told.
Marianne is now battered and returns to float in the water, but recognizes she cannot return to the life she had before. In the end we don't know who she is reaching out to, but it seems certain that she will not allow her eros (life force and sexuality) to remain dormant.
There are some intriguing ideas in this film, though some elements are distracting. The pace is deliberately slow and some will probably find it tedious and plodding. This is not meant to be a light comedy with action and witty dialogue. The camera work is strange, swaying at times and shaking at other times, as though the director needs to remind us that this is a film. It made me nauseous at one point.
Overall, it's definitely worth watching, but know that this is German, existential, and arthouse fantasy, not a laugh-out-loud romp by any stretch.
The main character, Marianne (who is so isolated no one refers to her by her actual name), is portrayed beautifully by Sagebrecht. In the opening scene she is floating in water, which is the way human life begins. Her life is dreary and lonely as a plain, overweight mortuary assistant who is only able to extend love and tenderness to corpses. Her bleak apartment is devoid of much decoration except a large old photograph showing a woman next to a man with a blacked out face. It is obvious from the age of the photo that these people are likely deceased, and it is later revealed that they are her parents. Marianne's mother is in fact dead. Her father was cruel and has been dead to her for most of her life.
Marianne hears a song from her adolescence in which a man is saying he will stay with his sugarbaby if she brings her love to him. While riding the subway, surrounded by people yet alone, she becomes infatuated with the young driver and stalks him. She learns that his wife is going out of town for a funeral (another death reference). She changes her appearance from bland to sexy, genuinely caring for herself for once instead of numbing out her pain with food. She becomes more confident and attractive and ends up seducing him.
In the beginning he is nearly as lifeless as the corpses she encounters, unresponsive to her touch, but through her caring and her sexuality he comes to life. They have both been existing in unfulfilling lives until they begin their relationship, and this dramatically transforms both of them. They hypomanically ride on his motorcycle as though flirting with death. Her apartment is now saturated in a rosy hue (rose colored glasses?) and they spend hours loving each other. She buys him fun clothes and, recalling his adolescent love of football, buys a foosball table. The relationship is dreamlike, and they don't even call each other by their first names. However, in one lengthy monologue after they make love, Marianne comes down to earth as she shares the story of her loneliness and how she came to extend tenderness to people after death, at the peak of their rejection by others.
Later they go out dancing and for perhaps the first time in her life she is the center of attention. They both seem to forget that his wife is returning. When she does, beating Marianne and dehumanizing her by repeating "disgrace", the crowd silently watches, allowing her to return to her isolated, lowly status. Even her lover has returned to his numbness as he allows his wife to beat her and then himself without protest. He has returned to his bland, passive life as an ignored spouse and a civil servant who does his routine job as he is told.
Marianne is now battered and returns to float in the water, but recognizes she cannot return to the life she had before. In the end we don't know who she is reaching out to, but it seems certain that she will not allow her eros (life force and sexuality) to remain dormant.
There are some intriguing ideas in this film, though some elements are distracting. The pace is deliberately slow and some will probably find it tedious and plodding. This is not meant to be a light comedy with action and witty dialogue. The camera work is strange, swaying at times and shaking at other times, as though the director needs to remind us that this is a film. It made me nauseous at one point.
Overall, it's definitely worth watching, but know that this is German, existential, and arthouse fantasy, not a laugh-out-loud romp by any stretch.