Stopped on Track (2011)

When Frank is diagnosed with incurable brain tumor, he's got only a few months to live. Along with his wife, he doesn't know how and when to tell their children about it. Meanwhile, Frank's health is getting worse with each day.

Director:

Andreas Dresen

Writers:

Andreas Dresen (screenplay), Cooky Ziesche (screenplay)

Stars:

Steffi Kühnert, Milan Peschel, Talisa Lilly Lemke

12 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steffi Kühnert	...	Simone Lange
Milan Peschel	...	Frank Lange
Talisa Lilly Lemke	...	Lilli Lange (as Talisa Lilli Lemke)
Mika Seidel	...	Mika Lange (as Mika Nilson Seidel)
Ursula Werner	...	Renate, Simones Mutter
Marie Rosa Tietjen	...	Simones Schwester
Otto Mellies	...	Ernst, Franks Vater
Christine Schorn	...	Franks Mutter
Bernhard Schütz	...	Stefan
Thorsten Merten	...	Tumor
Inka Friedrich	...	Ina
Petra Anwar	...	Palliativärztin
Uwe Träger	...	Diagnosearzt (as Dr. Uwe Träger)
Elke Unmüssig	...	Sterbebegleiterin #1
Brunhilde Sauer-Baur	...	Sterbebegleiterin #2

Storyline

When Frank is diagnosed with incurable brain tumor, he's got only a few months to live. Along with his wife, he doesn't know how and when to tell their children about it. Meanwhile, Frank's health is getting worse with each day.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | male frontal nudity | pubic hair | male pubic hair | illness | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany]

Country:

Germany France

Language:

German

Release Date:

17 November 2011 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Stopped on Track

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$710,237

Company Credits

Production Co:

Peter Rommel Productions, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), ARTE

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

All of the doctors, nurses, etc. shown in the film are real health care professionals, not actors.

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Soundtracks

Love and Mercy
Music and Lyrics by Eugene Landy and Brian Wilson
Performed by Milan Peschel

User Reviews

Intimate and gruelling

Most films about people undergoing a slow death have an inevitable sentimentality about them. It's a feeling I resist and then fall for – like eating too much chocolate. Not so Stopped on Track, a new German film. It's about a man, Frank, who is diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. It's gruelling and true. It combines all the wretchedness, tedium and sadness that accompanies a slow death. And I think the audience feels these three qualities in equal measure, with a couple of light moments thrown in. It is about a journey – the most universal of journeys and one that we often resist seeing up close and slow. Very powerful. Great acting. I did not feel emotionally manipulated, just very sad. And a bit bored at times – which felt appropriate.

I felt there was some irony at the expense of the health profession. Their capacity to do anything in the face of his dying and the terrible burden this placed on his family seemed limited in the extreme, and their words felt kind but hollow. I doubt that this was the intention of the director, Andreas Dresen, who also made Cloud Nine – a film I really liked at MIFF a couple of years ago. In this film, he used a mix of professional actors and these real-life health professionals, and much of the dialogue was improvised as the filming took place.

One aspect that I liked was that Frank used a mobile phone to records short bursts about himself and to capture his family reacting to him. This mini film within a film not only gave us insights into how he was feeling but mimicked, for me, the fragments of memory that you retain of someone who has died. This is an intimate and authentic film.