Christiane F. (1981)

This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 1970s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14-year-old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-story... See full summary »

Director:

Uli Edel (as Ulrich Edel)

Writers:

Uli Edel (additional writer), Kai Hermann (book)

Stars:

Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eberhard Auriga	...	Alter Fixer
Natja Brunckhorst	...	Christiane
Peggy Bussieck	...	Puppi
Lothar Chamski	...	Rolf
Rainer Woelk	...	Leiche (as Rainer Wölk)
Uwe Diderich	...	Klaus
Jan Georg Effler	...	Bernd
Ellen Esser	...	Kessis Mutter
Andreas Fuhrmann	...	Atze
Thomas Haustein	...	Detlev
Lutz Hemmerling	...	Bienenstich
Daniela Jaeger	...	Kessi
Bernhard Janson	...	Milan
Jens Kuphal	...	Axel
Christiane Lechle	...	Christianes Mutter

Storyline

This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 1970s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14-year-old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-story apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by 'The Sound', a new disco with the most modern equipment. Although legally she's too young, she asks a friend to take her. There, she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | heroin | darkness | night life | drug pusher | 

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Taglines:

You'll never forget her...

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Distributor's official website for private individuals Distributor's official website for professionnals

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

2 April 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Christiane F.

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Solaris Film, Maran Film, Popular Filmproduktion

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min 131 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the actors in the movie were in school, had never acted before and were first-time actors. For the majority, this was their only ever film & TV credit and haven't worked in the movie industry since.

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Goofs

Christiane F. plays the David Bowie album, "ChangesOneBowie," in her room. But the song that is heard - the German version of "Heroes" ("Helden") - is not on that particular record.

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Crazy Credits

Dedicated to: Andreas W. "Atze" (1960 - 77), Axel W. (1960 - 77), Babette D. "Babsi" (1963 - 77) and all others who didn't have the luck and strength to survive.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood High (2003)

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Soundtracks

Station to Station
Written by David Bowie
RCA Records
Courtesy Rolf-Budde-Verlag, Berlin

User Reviews

A very emotional movie.

I have just finished viewing Christiane F. this morning, and I can say that I have been thinking about nothing else for the last 7 hours. This is a very powerful movie that will leave you very sad and depressed about the story of Christiane. I have been on the verge of tears all day thinking about this poor child's life.

As noted in other reviews, this is a very dark film that portrays childhood drug abuse in Berlin in the late 70's. It is not for the faint of heart, as there is death; many needle scenes, vomiting from the characters and prostitution scenes. The story is not happy and it is a downward spiral of one child's sorry life in Berlin. The only happy moment comes in the last 30 seconds of the film, as it is depressing all the way up to the end. But, this is a love story (a dark one) about Christiane and Detlev and their journey through the life of drugs as teenagers in Berlin. Even though the relationship is damned, it is still touching.

Now to the facts, the film boasts some very good teenage actors in a 14-year-old Natja Brunckhorst as Christiane and Thomas Haustein as Detlev. Both portray emotions common to the characters: lack of confidence, desperation, depression and denial very well. Both characters are very believable and you will form an emotional attachment to both. The soundtrack is all David Bowie, which really provides an excellent set of moments with the music. I was very impressed that his music could be placed so well into a movie.

The DVD version comes in the original German language version and a dubbed English version (which I saw). Now, I wish I knew German (or it had subtitles) as I would much rather have heard the original actors voices, than the 20-year-old voice that is dubbing Christiane. Regardless, the movie can still be enjoyed in this format. The DVD also comes with no frills; it's just the movie. I really think a movie of this caliber should have actor interviews, a Christiane biography, or whatever, as this film will leave you wanting more. Hopefully they address this with a future release, as well as English subtitles for the German language version.

This movie I feel is really a lot stronger than some of the other drug movies that I have seen: Drugstore Cowboy, Traffic, etc.. and I would highly recommend it over the others, as it is a very touching story about the dark side of life.

And last show it to your kids to show them the realities of drugs. Kids need to know that they can die form drugs. The only problem I have is this movie is based off of heroin, which is not a popular drug today, so it might not be as believable to teenagers. (EDIT 2017 - well 14 years later heroin is back in popularity, and killing children all over the US. This movie is would be very applicable to teenagers today)