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

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

Vissi d'arte vissi d'amore
Music: Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Ceská Filharmonie (as Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)
Master Owner: Sonoton Music
[Played when Helen cuts herself shaving in the bathroom]

User Reviews

The German Amélie

This movie is certainly not for everyone. If thinking of a oozing zit makes you gag, if you get queasy at the sight of blood, if you suffer from nosocomephobia, or tomophobia, or if any mention of bodily fluids instantly offends your sensitivity, i'm sorry to say you'll never get to enjoy this beautiful little movie.

If, on the other hand, you're one of those people who, like me, see Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as a bittersweet shift from a brilliant career in gore (Braindead, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles); if you share a morbid fascination for human anatomy (in all its scatological glory), or simply find the cultural taboos surrounding it ridiculously irrational; you'll absolutely love this movie.

Trying to describe Wetlands, to me, instantly evokes Jeunet's Amélie (as weird as that may sound). They are of course two very different movies, but in the same way, i think, as the modern tale of Sleeping Beauty is so prudishly different from the original Grimm's tale. Both movies essentially revolve around a quirky and naive young woman with family issues striving to find love and meaning in her life through the weirdest and most hare-brained schemes imaginable. And, in that regard, Carla Juni's prodigious embodiment of her character perfectly rivals Audrey Tatou's equally spectacular performance.

If you can only find the same charm in Helen's quirkiness as you did in Amélie's, and get past all the visceral lewdness, you'll find Wetlands doesn't really aim to offend or disgust, as some critics would claim. The fact is, those who could only point at that aspect of this movie, were just sadly incapable of braking through that moral wall and seeing beyond it. Some people, of course, will never be able to appreciate the beauty of a garden, because they're too repulsed by the smell of manure...

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, 7 September 2014

Gross USA:

$59,478

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,561,230

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