Cracks in the Shell (2011)

Fine suffers from not being seen but she also does her best at not being noticed, even though she is an acting student. At night, when her mentally handicapped sister Jule cannot get to ... See full summary »

Director:

Christian Schwochow

Writers:

Heide Schwochow, Christian Schwochow

Stars:

Stine Fischer Christensen, Ulrich Noethen, Dagmar Manzel

7 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Stine Fischer Christensen	...	Josephine 'Fine' Lorenz
Ulrich Noethen	...	Kaspar Friedmann
Dagmar Manzel	...	Susanne Lorenz
Christina Drechsler	...	Jule Lorenz
Ronald Zehrfeld	...	Joachim
Anna Maria Mühe	...	Irina
Ulrich Matthes	...	Ben Kästner
Matthias Weidenhöfer	...	Christoph Werner
Gudrun Landgrebe	...	Vera
Corinna Harfouch	...	Nina
Annette Lober	...	Nadja
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bernd-Christian Althoff	...	Olaf
Candy Dee	...	Monique
Nicole Ernst	...	Ria
Christian Gaul	...	Frank

Storyline

Fine suffers from not being seen but she also does her best at not being noticed, even though she is an acting student. At night, when her mentally handicapped sister Jule cannot get to sleep and stereotypically bangs her head against the wall, Fine turns the recorder on and gives a firework of singing, acting and dancing. However in the acting school she lacks self confidence to uninhibitedly storm the stage. After the well known director Kasper Friedemann invites Fine for an audition, she convinces him with her acting. But he also sees in Fine an injured being (vulnerable personality) that matches his vision of Camille, the main character in his next play. Fine gets her first big part that she in no way wants to lose. She slips into another identity. As Camille, she awakens to her femininity, but through Camille, Fine also loses her own strengths that she shows every day in dealing with her sister Jule. Because Camille is not only self-conscious and sexually active but at the same ...

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Plot Keywords:

theater | self destructiveness | downward spiral | audition | disabled girl | 

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Genres:

Drama

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User Reviews

Well constructed film script showing human relations deteriorate when real life and a stage rehearsal get mixed up

I saw this film as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2012. This film started as a seemingly simplistic, tragic love story (actress mingles with famous director, director drops her later on, and so on), but it progressed splendidly after half an hour. All the ingredients found their proper place in the well constructed film script. As a bonus we got an inside view in what happens back stage among the participants, and more importantly the "making of" process before a stage play is ready for a performance. Of course, we can never be sure this being typical for any stage play, but it certainly had the outlook of being realistic and truthful.

Some of the plot ingredients became apparent not until after a while, like the mother of the actress bearing the burden of a handicapped daughter. The latter needed so much attention that her sister, our main character, seemed invisible for the mother (hence the title). Freud et al would have immediately caught this to be the foundation under the story. As a layman, I needed some time to catch up. Same was the case with the stage director, who made use of the underground frustrations in the process of creating a play. Even the relatively small role of the tunnel worker has its place in the overall story line.

It serves no useful purpose to condense the story here in a few sentences, and I certainly do not want spoilers to be given away. Trust me that the net result is convincing and impressive. I found it worthy of the maximum score for the audience award when leaving the theater.

Details

Country:

Germany France

Language:

German Danish Chinese

Release Date:

9 February 2012 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Cracks in the Shell

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$97,594

Company Credits

Production Co:

teamWorx Television & Film, Südwestrundfunk (SWR), ARTE

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1