Film: Cloud 9
Release date: 25th January 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 98 mins
Director: Andreas Dresen
Starring: Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal
Genre: Drama
Studio: Soda
Format: DVD
Country: Germany
One of the best British films to deal with the tricky subject of sexual desire in the elderly was The Mother, a fascinating film ruined by a melodramatic ending. This German film manages to deal with the theme with sensitivity and a remarkable amount of empathy, thanks mainly to some excellent performances.
The plot is blissfully simple, but the emotions it deals with are complex. Inge (Werner) is an aging woman living with her husband Werner (Rehberg) in a dingy Berlin flat. Married for thirty years, they seem happy enough despite his drinking - reading in bed, with a hobby of listening to recordings of steam trains on old records. Inge has enough to keep her busy - she mends clothes, sings in a choir and visits her daughter.
Into the story comes Karl (Westphal), an amateur cyclist who seems more in touch with himself and is enjoying life more than Inge’s slightly sad husband. They start an affair, which turns serious, and leaves Inge with a terrible choice – does she abandon a husband of thirty years? Can you start a new life at her advanced years?
Cloud 9 tackles its subject matter head on, and does not shrink from showing its protagonists in all of their grey, wrinkly glory. Those sex scenes are filmed with clarity yet sensitivity, never romanticising the act, yet showing youth does not have the monopoly on it. Werner must take a huge amount of credit for her performance – she is unglamorous, happy to stand in front of a mirror revealing a pot belly, sagging breasts and greasy hair, yet still somehow managing to be attractive.
Hubby Rehberg, too, puts in a tremendous performance, baffled by his wife’s sudden awakening, and insistent that somehow he was at fault - as revealed in the shocking ending. Even when he is sucking on his cigarette reading a book, there is a human being in there somewhere, and Inge’s decision to have an affair is never a straightforward choice.
The visual texture of the film is also key to setting the mood – the sparse, spare apartment, utterly colourless, is contrasted with the blazing red of the flowers, as Karl goes for one of his beloved bike rides through the countryside. Even a simple tree suddenly looks beautiful as the two lovers lie underneath it, enjoying a picnic.
Director Dresen has been compared with Mike Leigh, as there was no script for Cloud 9, just an idea. These things are always shrouded in mystery, but one thing is for sure, Dresen has more humanity and subtlety than Leigh’s overblown dull movies ever had. Inge’s scenes in the choir, where the words she sings take on an increasingly poignant weight as the film progresses, are mini masterpieces, and her journey is an increasingly desperate yet joyful one.
The only real criticism is the character of Karl is slightly underdone – we learn little about him, other than his cycling suggests a man in better shape than the stodgy Werner. Other than that, and some slightly obvious scenes with Inge and her flaky daughter, it’s a mini gem.
A highly unusual look at a subject matter most of us would rather not think about. Brave and challenging, it’s a rewarding addition to an increasingly confident new German cinema.
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