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 & 15 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 | german | breakdown | exorcism | 

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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:

Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,309, 22 October 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$8,632, 19 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

Based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a 23-year-old student, who died of starvation after an exorcism in Miltenberg, Germany (1976).

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Connections

Featured in The Making of 'Requiem' (2006)

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Soundtracks

Paramechanical World
Performed by Amon Düül
Written by R. Bauer, K. De Esser, H. Felenda and U. Leopold
Courtesy of Edition Intro Meisel GmbH
With kind permission of Amon Düül

User Reviews

well done

This movie doesn't have a clear message. Instead the title "requiem" really shows what this is about: looking at a person's life in every aspect of it. So the storytelling has to be much more from a distant viewpoint. Some may call this documentary-style as it seems to show a real social case study. Personally it reminded me a little bit of the early Scorseses style of movie-making (e.g. taxi driver): neutral viewpoint, but still subtle messages within, and finally the big clash in the ending, when all strings of the story developed throughout the movie come together.

For me, this is the best way of doing such a movie. First everything feels so normal as you watch the movie. In the end extreme situations begin to develop. Because you know the context, even it is a really extreme situation, it seems to be not at all inexplicable but very real, which it actually was. I could personally feel the helplessness with this situation, because I could not blame anybody in the movie, there was not a side who did anything wrong on purpose. All are just human beings, who are presented perfectly and believable through very good acting. The final shot of the girl's face with background organ music expresses many feelings I have about the movie.

All in all it is a very good movie, but of course it still does not feel as great as some of the best movies of the time. 9 stars