Die linkshändige Frau (1978)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Peter Handke

Writers:

Peter Handke (novel)
Peter Handke (screenplay)

Release Date:

26 May 1978 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Edith Clever	...	Marianne
Markus Mühleisen	...	Stefan - Sohn
Bruno Ganz	...	Bruno
Michael Lonsdale	...	Kellner
Angela Winkler	...	Franziska - Lehrerin
Bernhard Wicki	...	Verleger
Nicholas Novikoff	...	Fahrer
Bernhard Minetti	...	Vater
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Schauspieler
Jany Holt	...	Frau im Versammlungslokal
Gérard Depardieu	...	Mann mit dem T-Shirt
Philippe Calzerques	...	Stefan's Friend
Ines Des Longchamps	...	Frau mit Kind
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Simone Benmuse
Sam Cuzelin
Walter Greinhart
Mechild Kalisky
René Kalisky
Erika Krallk
Hanns Zischler

Also Known As:

The Left-Handed Woman

Runtime:

USA:119 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Clamart, Hauts-de-Seine, France

Company:

Filmverlag der Autoren

Best introduction to Handke's world

Of the many films by Peter Handke (either alone or with his partner Wim Wenders) this may be the most appealing. It is also not recommended for modern viewers accustomed to Hollywood's rhythm -it is long, slow paced and even difficult to follow sometimes. I strongly recommend viewers to read the book too, although they may not find too many additional clues there, for Handke's style is to reflect the character's actions rather than their thoughts (which, by the way, should be the perfect cinematic approach). Some people have wasted their time especulating about the woman's reasons to divorce her husband: the french essayist Gilles Lipovetsky even said that her "lack of good reasons" is a sign of modern life's emptiness. In fact, we can not say she does not have reasons: only we are not allowed to see them on the screen. One might even think that Handke himself did not care to build the woman's inner thoughts (and if he did, he sure did not share them with us). The movie, and the book, are about communication between us, or at least this is one of its possible readings. Do we really know what is on other people's mind, even people real close to us? The answer is no: we can only talk of what they tell us, or what we might hint, but how many times had we been completely wrong about somebody? The movie defies the usual assumption of an omniscient camera: the woman would not share her thoughts with the viewers, and this leaves us with a sense of discomfort. We feel compelled to find motivations that are just not there. Just the fact that the movie makes us think about it would be enough to qualify it as a masterpiece.