Four Minutes (2006)

An elderly piano teacher trains a young convict at a women's penitentiary.

Director:

Chris Kraus

Writer:

Chris Kraus

Stars:

Hannah Herzsprung, Monica Bleibtreu, Vadim Glowna

22 wins & 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Monica Bleibtreu	...	Gertrud 'Traude' Krüger
Hannah Herzsprung	...	Jenny von Loeben
Sven Pippig	...	Mütze
Richy Müller	...	Kowalski
Jasmin Tabatabai	...	Ayse
Stefan Kurt	...	Direktor Meyerbeer
Vadim Glowna	...	Gerhard von Loeben
Nadja Uhl	...	Nadine Hoffmann
Peter Davor	...	Journalist Wahrig
Edita Malovcic	...	Traude - jung
Christian Koerner	...	SS-Sturmbannführer
Kathrin Kestler	...	Hannah
Amber Bongard	...	Clara Mütze
Dietrich Hollinderbäumer	...	Pater Vincens
Dieter Moor	...	TV-Moderator

Storyline

In Germany, the elder Frau Traude Krueger gives piano classes in a prison for a few prisoners and the security guard Mütze. When she sees the rebel and aggressive Jenny Von Loeben playing piano, she immediately identifies her potential and offers to teach her for a competition. Frau Krueger finds that Jenny was a prodigy when she was a child; abused when she was a teenager and has been imprisoned for murdering and decapitating a man. Along the period they work together preparing for the exhibition, Frau Krueger discloses secrets about her love in World War II while the self-destructive Jenny has four minutes of glory and recognition of her talent.

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Plot Keywords:

21st century | germany | handcuffs | handcuffed | handcuffed woman | 

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Taglines:

The next German film sensation after The Lives of Others

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Monica Bleibtreu is the mother of actor Moritz Bleibtreu, famous for "Das Experiment" (The Experiment) and "Lola Rennt" (Run, Lola, Run). Monica herself was known for acting in the popular German television series "Tatort".

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Goofs

In several sequences where we see Jenny playing the piano, the notes we hear do not correspond to the keys she plays.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gertrud 'Traude' Krüger: I'm very sorry.
Direktor Meyerbeer: About what?
Gertrud 'Traude' Krüger: Them dying.
Direktor Meyerbeer: I'm sorry about how they died.

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Connections

References The Blues Brothers (1980)

User Reviews

The triumph of the individual, even if it means self-destruction...

4 Minutes (2006)

This is the German "Four Minutes" and it's an intense look at a woman's prison and a prisoner who has a gift for playing piano. And then about an older woman who had some undisclosed issues in her past (during WWII) and is now steadfastly teaching piano in the prison. Music contests come along, and the inmate fights all the odds to compete.

That's the surface. Deeper and more interesting are the troubled psyches of the two leads, the younger woman vitriolic and intense (and quite believable), the older woman steely and cold and almost cruel. That they come to terms with one another is a given, sort of (that's what movies typically do), but how that turns on a couple of spectacular (and a little sensationalist) twists at the ends is pretty rousing.

There is great music, conflicts with Nazi and racist overtones, lesbianism, and of course, a rough and tumble prison world in contemporary Germany. That's enough for any good film. It makes it moving and the high stakes are somehow justified by the intense acting. It breaks conventions within a larger cliché of the heroine struggling against the odds. It has an odd and disturbing element about innocence, and this leads further into the psychology of the inmate, but it isn't quite resolved.

But it's all really interesting and provocative. You will probably cheer a little by the end, too.

Details

Official Sites:

Europa Corp. [France] Official site [Germany]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cuatro minutos

Filming Locations:

Luckau, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

EUR1,400,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$9,315,125

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kordes & Kordes Film GmbH, Südwestrundfunk (SWR), Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min 112 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1