Tom Tykwer is the alleged writer and director of the movie "Run Lola Run." Lola was very contemporary, very fast, very cleverly constructed, shock full of witty ideas. Other movies from his filmography have a very distinct Seventies art house film feel to them - Deadly Maria, Winter Sleepers, Heaven and 3. They are painfully slow, full of empty self importance, cover subjects middle aged teachers tend to consider important in life. Except for the name Tom Tykwer they don't have too much in common with "Lola". Don't let the name fool you.
Sophie Rois (Hanna) is certainly a strange choice for the leading role in a "Folie a Trois". She doesn't look too nice, is much older than her two male love interests, has a terrible voice and - as Hanna - a personality that would probably drive most men away from her. Hanna is in a long time relationship with Simon (Sebastian Schipper) that obviously went stale quite some time ago. By pure chance she's meets the handsome Adam (Devid Striesow) and has sex with him the first time the same day Simon is told he's got testicular cancer and subjected to surgery on the spot. Losing a testicle must have turned him into half a man, because shortly afterwards he has a chance encounter with the handsome Adam that turns into his first homosexual experience. Good for him that while homosexuality is genetic and has nothing to do with free will, heterosexuality isn't, right?
Will the two pairs end up as "Three"? That's actually the big question, the whole story of this movie. Tykwer uses a lot of decoration to make it look more important. Hanna is the presenter of a TV Art Show, Simon works in the art business, Adam in the stem-cell research. Simons mother gets cancer and ends up as a yummy piece of art. Lots of opportunities to touch important issues and show interesting scenes. But even though Tykwer used a budget that in the Seventies would have been enough to make quite a few independent films he manages to present it all in an extremely dull way. You actually feel sorry for all this people with their very fashionable jobs and their shallow existences. Compared to this, the "Menage a Trois" really shines. "3" is part of the pseudo-intellectual art world it so knowingly depicts.
When Simon wears his woolly hat and thick glasses he resembles quite a lot the everyday appearance of Dani Lewy, co-owner and co-founder of Tykwer's production company, with his angular shaped face Adam looks quite a bit like timid Tykwer himself. Just saying. Just looking for a reason.
I don't know if I missed any kind of explanation for the very strange effects the castration in this movie has. I could easily dismiss it as an embarrassing goof or an inane plot device. But when the end is near even some plants show a surprisingly combative spirit and don't just wither away. The basis topic of "Three" is the midlife crisis, the period in life when people suddenly want much more of things they once had or something completely new. Someone in this troublesome age might find this movie quite interesting, and the ending inspiring, uplifting, depressing or allegorically profound.
