Paradise: Hope (2013)

The final installment in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, 'Paradise: Hope' tells the story of overweight thirteen-year-old Melanie and her first love. While her mother travels to Kenya ('... See full summary »

Director:

Ulrich Seidl

Writers:

Ulrich Seidl (screenplay), Veronika Franz (screenplay)

Stars:

Melanie Lenz, Verena Lehbauer, Joseph Lorenz

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Melanie Lenz	...	Melanie
Verena Lehbauer	...	Verena
Joseph Lorenz	...	Arzt
Michael Thomas	...	Sporttrainer
Viviane Bartsch	...	Ernährungsberaterin (as Vivian Bartsch)
Maria Hofstätter	...	Tante Melanie
Arabel Aigner	...	Diätcamp Kind
Vanessa Ecker	...	Diätcamp Kind
Ines Götz	...	Diätcamp Kind
Alexia Greimel	...	Diätcamp Kind
Tobias Kasper	...	Diätcamp Kind
Renee Marat	...	Diätcamp Kind
Sebastian Mertel	...	Diätcamp Kind
Julia Metzner	...	Diätcamp Kind
Christoph Miko	...	Diätcamp Kind

Storyline

The final installment in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, 'Paradise: Hope' tells the story of overweight thirteen-year-old Melanie and her first love. While her mother travels to Kenya ('Paradise: Love') and her aunt does missionary work ('Paradise: Faith'), Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp for overweight adolescents. Between physical education and nutrition counseling, pillow fights and her first cigarette, Melanie falls in love with the camp director, a doctor forty years her senior. As the doctor struggles with the guilty nature of his desire, Melanie had imagined her paradise differently.

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Plot Keywords:

overweight | nutrition | diet | pillow fight | girl in bra and panties | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Austria] Official site [Japan]

Country:

Austria France Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

18 December 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paraíso: Esperanza

Filming Locations:

Gymnasium Sachsenbrunn, Kirchberg am Wechsel, Lower Austria, Austria

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,664, 8 December 2013

Gross USA:

$6,701

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$457,132

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion GmbH, Tatfilm, Coproduction Office

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Melanie: If you're happy and you know it, clap your fat. If you're happy and you know, clap your fat. If you're happy and you know it, and you really want to show it, if you're happy and you know it, clap your fat.

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Connections

Follows Paradise: Faith (2012)

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Soundtracks

If you're happy and you know it
(CRS Players)
Volksweise - interpretiert von Viviane Bartsch und den Diätcamp Kindern

User Reviews

Hope in youth

Ulirch Seidl's 'Paradise' trilogy focuses on female unhappiness: the first two movies were almost unwatchably painful, as they charted their protagonists' unfortunate plights and self-harming behaviour. The third film is not quite so gloomy, although its title 'Hope' is almost certainly meant ironically, but there is hope here, if only because it's younger characters still have the chance to turn around their lives. Equally, the film's purpose seems a little less clear than its predecessors: some overweight, but basically normal teenagers attend a weight-loss camp, where they face a measure of abuse from the adults who run it. The most poignant moment in the film comes when the lead character, the daughter of the protagonist in the first film, desperately calls her mother (who we know to be trapped in her own form of hell), a sign of a human bond that has hitherto not been revealed. Overall, it's still hard to know what to make of the trilogy, except as a series of observations on quite how hard it is to make meaningful connections with those around us.