Gegenüber (2007)

Director:

Jan Bonny

Writers:

Jan Bonny
Christina Ebelt

Release Date:

11 October 2007 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Teacher Anne and policeman Georg are thought of as the perfect couple. However, appearances are deceptive: one of them is covered with scars and bruises. But which one is the abuser?

Plot Keywords:

Bossy Wife | Dominant Woman | Dysfunctional Marriage | Cuckold

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Matthias Brandt	...	Georg Hoffmann
Victoria Trauttmansdorff	...	Anne Hoffmann
Wotan Wilke Möhring	...	Michael Gleiwitz
Susanne Bormann	...	Denise
Anna Brass	...	Marie Hoffmann
Pablo Ben-Yakov	...	Lukas Hoffmann
Jochen Striebeck	...	Hans Josef
Maria Körber	...	Mechthild
Claus Dieter Clausnitzer	...	Andreas Hinreich
Ole Ohlson	...	Robert
Özgür Özata	...	Ahmet Celik
Anne Ratte-Polle	...	Sabrina
Till Butterbach	...	Polizei-Kollege
Guntram Brattia	...	Arzt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nadja Robiné
Gabriele Schulze
Vanessa Radman	...	Jessy (uncredited)

Directed by
Jan Bonny

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jan Bonny
Christina Ebelt

Produced by
Bettina Brokemper	....	producer
Andrea Hanke	....	co-producer

Cinematography by
Bernhard Keller

Film Editing by
Stefan Stabenow

Casting by
Susanne Ritter

Production Design by
Tim Pannen

Costume Design by
Frauke Firl

Makeup Department
Nancy Friedrich	....	makeup artist
Sarah Wirtz	....	makeup effects

Production Management
Rüdiger Jordan	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Friedemann Roll	....	assistant director

Art Department
Michael Kalden	....	property master
Sabine Steudter	....	property master
Alexander Wunderlich	....	assistant production designer

Sound Department
Bastian Büssler	....	boom operator (as Bastian Büßer)
Tobias Fleig	....	sound re-recording mixer
Günther Friedhoff	....	adr mixer
Rainer Heesch	....	sound designer
Martin Langenbach	....	foley artist
Martin Witte	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Florian Alt	....	digital compositor
Florian Alt	....	titles
Joerg Bruemmer	....	digital intermediate supervisor
Michael Krämer	....	digital compositor
Sebastian Mietzner	....	digital compositor
Philipp Schneider	....	visual effects editor
Matthias Schulze-Kirketerp	....	digital colorist
Julia Strack	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
Jens Nolte	....	assistant camera
Henry Notroff	....	lighting design
Max Wiesenäcker	....	assistant camera (as Max Wiesenecker)

Other crew
Agnès Chabot	....	press attache: France
Sonja Heiss	....	script editor
Rüdiger Jordan	....	location scout
Corinne Le Hong	....	co-translator: texts
Kai Siggelkow	....	set manager assistant
Claire Viroulaud	....	press attache
Arend Wiesweg	....	caterer

Thanks
Michael Schmid-Ospach	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Heimatfilm
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Distributors

• AmaFilms (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Moonlight Films (2009) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• W-Filmproduktion & Filmverleih (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• W-film (2008) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Brunbro Entertainment Group (2007) (Belgium) (all media)
• Filmfreak Distributie (20??) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Sonoton  music publishing company

Also Known As:

"Counterparts" - USA (literal English title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Germany:16 | France:U (some scenes can shock) | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Essen, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Heimatfilm

Trivia:

Jan Bonny's first feature film.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Metropolis: Cannes 2007 - Special" (2007)

Rough and sympathetic but not esthetically pleasing.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

The main interest of this unconventional film by newcomer Jan Bonny is its seldom examined theme, the marital violence exerted by … women! For it is an established fact that husbands can be the victims of their wives, although women are much more likely to be beaten up by men than the other way round. But the rarity of such cases is precisely what makes them interesting to study.

Assuming this to be true, it is not an easy task for a filmmaker to tackle this problem. Showing a woman hitting a man is an uncommon, unsettling show and it takes a lot of restraint and subtleness not to turn such a story into a freak show. And it can be said that Jan Bonny, never indulging in sensationalism, is the man of the situation. Blows rain down in his film but what makes things acceptable (although seeing 'Gegenüber' cannot be called a pleasure cruise) is the writer-director's empathy for his characters. He does not condemn Anne Hoffmann, a primary school teacher, who, without warning, becomes a man beater. He is content to observe her behavior, trying to understand what -consciously or unconsciously - drives her to such extremities. This outburst of violence seems, according to Bonny, to be the product of sustained frustration (a scornful father, lack of recognition in her job, lack of ambition of her husband) rather than gratuitous or perverse. Likewise, he does not present police inspector Georg Hoffmann as a mere victim. Why does the police inspector remain so passive when assaulted by Anne? He is not a coward, quite the opposite as he has managed to save the life of his young partner Michael during a dangerous operation. Is he masochistic or is it because he wants to protect their love? The latter question could contain the answer as, in spite of everything, Georg and Anne remain a loving couple. Both a good and bad news because, as the ending implies, they risk perpetuating these destructive practices until old age - if they ever reach it.

¨Matthias Brandt and Victoria Trautmansdorff are exceptional as Georg and Anne. They give their all to their characters, hard as their work must have been, and make them believable throughout.

My only reservation concerns the cinematography and the camera-work. Why such dirty pictures captured by such a shaky camera? Why such ugly natural settings (the Hoffmanns' apartment looks particularly hideous)? After all, Georg and Anne are middle-class, and even if they are not well off, such sordid realism does not actually fit in. Wouldn't it have been more relevant artistically to show a reasonably beautiful environment gradually deteriorating as the situation worsens?

A worthwhile effort despite this minor flaw though.