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Third
Keswick Film Festival
15-17
February 2002
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No Place To Go
Programme Notes
The programme
notes for this film were based on Rich Cline review on the Shadows on the Wall
website. You can read
the full review here.
A moving portrait of a woman's life, Oskar Roehler's evocative
film is like a dark, serious version of 'It's a Wonderful Life'. We begin with
a suicide attempt, as the aging novelist Hanna Flanders (Elsner) loses her place
in the world when the Berlin Wall is dismantled in 1989. Her books are not getting
published anymore due to her radical political views, and her old world glamour
sits at odds with the gritty realities of post-communist Germany. So she reverts
to her past, packing up her Munich apartment and moving to Berlin to be with
her old boyfriend (Gwisdek). But he has a new life as well, so now she's homeless,
wandering in the bleak eastern landscape, relying on the comfort of strangers
and eventually revisiting her parents and her ex-husband (Glowna) in an effort
to make sense of her life. Filmed in black and white, the story has an eternal
quality that draws us in ... and Elsner's astonishing performance keeps us right
with her from start to finish. It's such an intimate, introspective portrait
of humanity that it snatches our breath away at several points due to the clever
imagery, powerful themes and the simple transparency of Elsner's expressive
face. It's also a very harsh film--gentle kindness turns to awful violence more
than once, and we soon realise that Hanna's journey to self-discovery won't
be easy. Gripping, beautiful, powerful stuff.
©
Keswick Film Club 2002
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