Wetlands (2013)

The adventures of an eccentric girl who has strange attitudes towards hygiene and sexuality longs for the reunion of her divorced parents.

Director:

David Wnendt

Writers:

Claus Falkenberg (screenplay), David Wnendt (screenplay)

Stars:

Carla Juri, Christoph Letkowski, Marlen Kruse

3 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carla Juri	...	Helen Memel
Christoph Letkowski	...	Robin
Marlen Kruse	...	Corinna
Meret Becker	...	Helens Mutter
Axel Milberg	...	Helens Vater
Peri Baumeister	...	Schwester Valerie
Edgar Selge	...	Dr. Notz
Clara Wunsch	...	Helen, 8 Jahre
Ludger Bökelmann	...	Toni
Bernardo Arias Porras	...	Michael
Selam Tadese	...	Kanell
Pia Röver	...	Neue Freundin
Harry Baer	...	Neuer Freund
Merlin Rose	...	Pommesbuden Junge
Florian Rummel	...	Drummer

Storyline

The eccentric 18 year-old Helen narrates the story of her life, including stories about her preferred sexual practices that involve vegetables, her attitude towards hygiene, drugs, her best friend Corinna and her challenging childhood. The frame story takes place in a hospital where she is treated because of an anal fissure. During her stay she plans to reunite her divorced parents and falls in love with the male nurse Robin.

---

Plot Keywords:

divorced parents | hygiene | voyeur | sexual tension | bleeding | 

---

Taglines:

Get prepared to meet Helen.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [Germany] Official site [Germany]

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Release Date:

22 August 2013 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Wetlands

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,488, 5 September 2014, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$59,437, 28 November 2014

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rommel Film, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The news clip on television that Helen, as a child, is watching with her father and mother, is of the so called Enschede fireworks disaster, which was on May 13th, 2000 and the actual footage was made by Danny de Vries.

---

Quotes

Helen Memel: I often mix up reality, lies and dreams.

---

Connections

References Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

---

Soundtracks

Fuck the Pain Away
Music and text: Merrill Nisker, which is the birth name of Peaches
Performed by: Peaches
Publisher: KMG Germany
[Played when Helen wakes up and talks about shaving]

User Reviews

Repelling yet Riveting!

There is nothing that could concise David Wnendt's Feuchtgebiete aka Wetlands in a single word. Well if one's given the liberty to express what they'd seen or rather witnessed in a plethora of words, it'd most likely be something close to obscene, disgusting, repulsive and most of all shocking. If you've seen its red band previews, you can figure out instantly whether the movie is for you or not. On the other hand if you thought this'd be a usual sex- comedy with some gross factor, believe me when I tell ya what you saw in the preview is nothing compared to the movie. Nothing will prepare you for Wetlands' odd 105 minutes.

Greeted initially with a splendid shot of a skater girl, it quickly goes downhill before you can say "ugh". Wetlands follows the sexual and unhygienic adventures of Helen Memel, a girl who is hellbent on making her life as unhygienic as possible and labeling it as her 'experiments'. Helen played charmingly by Carla Juri, is on an experiment with her own genitals and whatnot as she initially states in the movie. Its kind of a parallel she draws with how she feels for her parents and their divorce. While light at heart, the seemingly damaged 18 year old as Helen may seem it also brings out how bad she needed to be loved.

Beneath the layers of her weird habits and unimaginable sexual fantasies, lies the conflict with herself and an intense yearning for her parents' reconciliation. And Carla Juri does justice to the role. Her performance was inexplicably good, shuffling from cute and sexy to crude and repelling seemed like an easy feat for her. Right from the CG titles, her narration reminded me sorely of David Fincher's Fight Club.

I for one consider myself hardened, watching movies like A Serbian Film, The Human Centipede, Martyrs, Inside, Hostel or even Salo but there were scenes in Wetlands that truly deserved to be called cringe worthy. I wouldn't suggest Wetlands for the faint of heart/stomach or the more perverse either. As evident from the trailers this was marketed as a over the top raunchy comedy but if you overlook all those gross and perverse segments (which is hard I know), there is a sensibly written story about the perils a late- adolescent girl goes though be it physical or emotional. This movie does a decent or rather an indecent job of blending the aversion with a story of someone who aches for some love. I wonder if the same would work had it been a male lead, and of course an immediate reminiscence was Qaushiq Mukherjee's Gandu.