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Review

The film establishes its otherworldly, mythic persona as it opens with a pensive woman writing a letter (not e-mailing!) in a small cottage at the very edge of a large ocean; you’d be willing to bet that ships fall off the horizon. The letter requests a favor from her friend Sissi (Potente, who worked with director Tykwer in Run, Lola, Run), a waif of a woman whose life is defined by the mental institution she works in, as much her asylum from the outside world as it is for the patients. She is dichotomous; although sheltered, she deals on a daily basis with harsh realities that most people spend their lives avoiding. Saving the life of another, Sissi is struck down, pinned under a huge truck, unable to breathe. A wounded, tragic hero literally breathes life into her, then disappears, wanting no thanks or recognition. When she recovers, she’s consumed by the desire, the need, to find him. She is totally submersed in her quest, an odyssey in which lives overlap and intertwine; she enters a morality play defined by elements of fantasy, a place where people are trapped in the hell of their expectations, the self-created realities which hold them in thrall even while they recognize the fabrication. The film uses with mesmerizing effectiveness recurring images, re-echoing themes, and unexpected connections; it imparts a sense of a blithe inevitability of redemption in the most horrible of circumstances. In the end, it crystallizes those rare, blessed moments when we watch ourselves move past an outworn version of ourselves, when we realize our capability to see life through fresh eyes. (German with English subtitles)