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:

You Can't Run Away From Destiny

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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

References A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

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Soundtracks

No Plans No Projects
from "Educes Me"
Written by Wim Mertens

User Reviews

Experimental and evocative.

When filmmakers attempt to do anything radical or completely experimental, critics often hit them hard with insults about how "unreal" or "amateur." But, hello, all of these new devices being used in films ARE unreal AND amateur because they're so innovational (since no one has tried them before). Tom Tykwer is exactly the sort of filmmaker that likes to take chances, who goes against the normal (sometimes recycled) cinematic techniques employed by the majority of the cinematic world. Here, in "Winter Sleepers," we see those revolutionary techniques that led to his international success in "Run Lola Run" in full bloom. The narrative is basically shallow, leaving many gaps in plot and dialogue, but this is done purposefully, and the filling of the gaps is left up to the cinematography, lighting, and color schemes. It is no surprise that Tykwer uses the subjective camera to convey the feelings of his characters (sometimes we fall to the ground in a flash of white when Laura blacks out, or we spin around in circles when Rene has a psychological episode). It is done for a purpose, and we can understand the turmoil that each goes through--without the reliance of a script.

The film can be seen as more character driven than plot. So, if you need the precious plot more than anything else, I wouldn't recommend this movie. But you should see this movie if you're at all interested in how an event can exponentially set off another set of events, continually building, until the life of every character (whether involved in the first event or not) changes forever.