blessed events New Year’s Eve. Simone decides to go out alone. The next morning, she wakes up in a strange car, next to a strange man. Few weeks later, she discovers she’s pregnant. By coincidence, she runs into the stranger again and is surprised to find out that, contrary to her expectations, he’s actually happy about the pregnancy and wants to live with her. While he works in a hospital nursing to the dying with extraordinary tenderness, she renovates their little home. The larger Simone’s belly grows and the more extensively Hannes’ integrity warms the nest, the more oppressive their homemade prison appears. “My goal was to consistently take on Simone’s perspective, so that her horror – which seems to come out of nowhere – becomes experienceable for the viewer. In order to underscore the constant possibility of change and dissolution, the settings in the film are often under construction, in renovation or intentionally dissonant. The wide, cinemascope framing, as well as the omissions and ellipses, create a space for the turbulance inside Simone.”
Biography
film director
Isabelle Stever
Isabelle Stever (Munich, Germany, 1963), after studying mathematics, graduated in directing at dffb, Berlin’s academy of film and television. She has made numerous shorts and has worked as assistant director, casting director and script supervisor. Her first feature film, Portrait of a Married Couple, received the First Steps Award in 2002; her second feature film, Gisela, was selected for the festivals of Munich, Locarno and Montreal, amongst others.
FILMOGRAFIA
filmografia essenziale/essential filmography
Requiem für etwas, das sehr klein ist (cm, 1997), A Touch of Heaven (cm, 1998), Beach Bikini Party (cm, 1999), Erste Ehe (Portrait of a Married Couple, 2002), Gisela (2005), Deutschland 09 - 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation (ep. Eine demokratische Gesprächsrunde zu festgelegten Zeiten; Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation, cm, 2009), Glückliche Fügung (2010).
Cast
& Credits
regia/director
Isabelle Stever
soggetto/script
dall’omonimo racconto di/from the short story of the same title by Anke Stelling
sceneggiatura/screenplay
Anke Stelling, Isabelle Stever
fotografia/cinematography
Bernhard Keller
montaggio/film editing
Bettina Böhler
scenografia/production design
Beatrice Schultz
costumi/costume design
Anette Guther
musica/music
Yoyo Röhm, Jupiter Moll, Louis Marioth
suono/sound
Frank Kruse, Bernd V. Bassewitz
interpreti e personaggi/cast and characters
Annika Kuhl (Simone), Stefan Rudolf (Hannes), Arno Frisch (Herbert), Maria Simon (Susa), Juan Carlos Lopez (Helmut), Hanns Zischler (il ginecologo/Gynecologist), Jana Thies (l’impiegata/Female Employee), Lawrence Davis (il bambino/Baby).
produttori/producers
Sigrid Hoerner, Anne Leppin
produzione/production
Moneypenny Filmproduktion
coproduzione/coproduction
Zdf - Das Kleine Fernsehspiel
vendita all’estero/world sales
Media Luna New Films