Winter Sleepers (1997)

Beautiful blonde translator Rebecca lives with her boyfriend, ski instructor Marco, in a small mountain villa owned by her friend, nurse Laura. Rene, a cinema projectionist, steals Marco's ... See full summary »

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writers:

Anne-Françoise Pyszora (novel), Anne-Françoise Pyszora (screenplay)

Stars:

Ulrich Matthes, Marie-Lou Sellem, Floriane Daniel

8 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ulrich Matthes	...	Rene
Marie-Lou Sellem	...	Laura
Heino Ferch	...	Marco
Floriane Daniel	...	Rebecca
Josef Bierbichler	...	Theo
Agathe Taffertshofer	...	Theos Frau
Sophia Dirscherl	...	Theos Tochter (as Sofia Dirscherl)
Simon Donatz	...	Theos Sohn
Jakob Donatz	...	Theos Sohn
Laura Tonke	...	Nina
Werner Schnitzer	...	Chefarzt
Sebastian Schipper	...	Otto
Robert Meyer	...	Polizist
Harry Täschner	...	Gerichtsvollzieher
Walter Anichhofer	...	Souffleur

Storyline

Beautiful blonde translator Rebecca lives with her boyfriend, ski instructor Marco, in a small mountain villa owned by her friend, nurse Laura. Rene, a cinema projectionist, steals Marco's car while in a daze and gets into a car crash with local farmer Theo, whose daughter, after being in coma for a time, dies. Rene suffers from partial short term memory loss and starts a relationship with Laura. Meanwhile Marco is looking for the man who stole his car and Theo - for the man who killed his daughter...

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | child in a coma | snowbound | unfaithfulness | blonde | 

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Taglines:

En kærlighedsthriller af Tom Tykwer [Denmark]

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

30 October 1997 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Winter Sleepers

Filming Locations:

Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

DEM 36,414 (Germany), 2 January 1998, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,818, 19 March 2000, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$316,431, 27 August 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

X-Filme Creative Pool, Palladio Film, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

122 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The characters are color-coded.

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Goofs

When Marco is falling, the parachute on his back is clearly visible.

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Connections

Featured in Die Hände meiner Mutter (2016)

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Soundtracks

Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten
from "Tabula Rasa"
Written by Arvo Pärt
Performed by the Staatsorchester Stuttgart

User Reviews

Almost perfectly edited piece of art

Winter Sleepers, a film Tom Tykwer made before his brilliant Run Lola Run, shows some of his development. A few of the more dramatic shots were things he tried here first. From a technical point of view, the work is excellent: editing, photography, lighting, music, sets and locations were all beautifully delivered. At times, that's enough, but this is both an unrelentingly down story and it's probably about 25 minutes too long...a rough combination. I'm glad to have seen it; I enjoy Tykwer's vision and technical crispness; he knows how to grab your attention powerfully without resorting to cloying tricks like Spielberg. On the other hand, there aren't many people I would recommend Winter Sleepers to. Great work, so-so outcome.