Requiem (2006)

An epileptic girl suffers a breakdown during her first year at university, then decides to seek help from a priest in battling the troubles associated with her strict upbringing.

Director:

Hans-Christian Schmid

Writer:

Bernd Lange

Stars:

Sandra Hüller, Burghart Klaußner, Imogen Kogge

16 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandra Hüller	...	Michaela Klingler
Burghart Klaußner	...	Karl Klingler
Imogen Kogge	...	Marianne Klingler
Anna Blomeier	...	Hanna Imhof
Nicholas Reinke	...	Stefan Weiser
Jens Harzer	...	Martin Borchert (Exorzist)
Walter Schmidinger	...	Gerhard Landauer (Exorzist)
Friederike Adolph	...	Helga Klingler
Irene Kugler	...	Heimleiterin Krämer
Johann Adam Oest	...	Professor Schneider
Eva Löbau	...	Krankenschwester
Anne Berger	...	Studenten
Alejandro Esquerra	...	Studenten
Kutrín Kreredis	...	Studenten
Hannah Neumann	...	Studenten

Storyline

It is the 70's, and in the German countryside the epileptic Michaela Klingler joins the pedagogy course at the University against the will of her pious mother, Marianne. However her father Karl Klingler rents her a room in the sorority house and Michaela travels to Tübingen. As the semester progresses, Michaela befriends her former high school friend, Hanna Imhof, who forces her to seek medical help. When Michaela has a crisis, she stops taking her medication and believes she is possessed by demons, and her health gets worse. She decides to seek out a priest, Martin Borchert, who believes in exorcism whereas the progressive parochial priest Gerhard Landauer tries to convince her to go to a psychologist.

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Plot Keywords:

priest | university | exorcism | german | breakdown | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Océan Films [France] Official site [Germany]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

2 March 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Réquiem

Filming Locations:

Gomaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$3,309 (USA) (20 October 2006)

Gross:

$8,632 (USA) (17 November 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

23/5 Filmproduktion GmbH, Arte, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sandra Hüller's feature film debut.

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Connections

Version of The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Anthem"
Deep Purple

User Reviews

Unbelievable - Watch this film

Phew this is hard to put into words.

At first I thought the cinematography was stunning, beautifully shot and the period was captured perfectly - I felt like I was watching a film shot in 1972 and it brought back early memories of the 70s.

The script was wonderfully subtle, there was absolutely no judgements about the characters. It would have been very easy to show the mother as a cruel an twisted woman but instead you could empathise with her, she thought she was doing the best for her daughter and that made the whole thing more tragic but also more real and beautiful.

To me the central message of the film was that life, however short is something to celebrate. The girl makes references to St Katarina who only lived a short time but did many wonderful things. She may not have escaped her strict and cruel mother for long but at least she did it and had a wonderful time for a while.

I kept having to tell myself they were actors. The depiction of the girl's first kiss at college was unlike any other I've seen. They captured the clumsiness and true feeling of the situation perfectly.

And finally the soundtrack - you'd think that deep purple wrote 'Anthem' for this film. Earlier we see her dancing ecstatically to the track when she's finally free at college and then we later see the relevance when it's used to play out at the end of the film.

I'm not sure I'll ever see a better film that this and I recommend it to anyone who occasionally likes to be moved by a movie.