Gespenster (2005)

Nina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the... See full summary »

Director:

Christian Petzold

Writers:

Harun Farocki, Christian Petzold

Stars:

Julia Hummer, Sabine Timoteo, Marianne Basler

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview:
Julia Hummer	...	Nina
Sabine Timoteo	...	Toni
Marianne Basler	...	Francoise
Aurélien Recoing	...	Pierre
Benno Fürmann	...	Oliver
Anna Schudt	...	Kai
Claudia Geisler	...	Heimleiterin (as Claudia Geissler)
Philipp Hauß	...	Mathias
Victoria Trauttmansdorff	...	Mathias' Mutter
Peter Kurth	...	Vorarbeiter
Annika Blendl	...	Agentin
Rosa Enskat	...	Krankenschwester

Storyline

Nina, an end-of-teenage orphan with mental problems, starts a new job as a garden cleaner when she meets Toni. They fell in love with each other, but soon Toni starts betraying Nina. In the meantime, Francoise is picked up at a psychic department of a Berlin hospital by her husband, Pierre. After seeing Nina, Francoise believes that she has found her kidnapped daughter Marie, but neither Toni nor Pierre believe her. Nina is unsure about what to think...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Germany France

Language:

German French

Release Date:

15 September 2005 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Duchy

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Schramm Film Koerner & Weber, Les Films des Tournelles, Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Second part of director Christian Petzold's "Gespenster"-trilogy. The other two parts are Yella and The State I Am In.

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Connections

Followed by Yella (2007)

User Reviews

all about the mirror effect

I've seen this film more than once now, and there's always someone complaining about the "obvious construction" of the plot afterwards. But then - this is part of Petzold's game: he plays along with the rules of genre.

It's very nice, how the highly improbable story of how the two girls (Timoteo/Hummer) meet, is again mirrored in another, even more improbable story, that the girls make up for a casting. This film is a journey between fact and fiction, it's more about potentials, things that might have happened in the past or might be happening in the future, than it is about actual ongoings. It's a reverie, sorts of - so apt enough there are a lot of motives, Freud might have found interesting for his dream analysis, like all the "doppelganger"-constellations.

Also, I think, "Gespenster" might be interesting to be watched in comparison to current Asian cinema of the uncanny: Petzold's everyday urban architecture also feels haunted in an unobtrusive, strangely familiar way. This film is not about the obvious. To describe it as the story of two girls who meet and eventually become friends and lovers, or as the story of an orphaned mother, who searches Europe for her lost daughter, clearly doesn't say much about the nature of "Gespenster" at all.