Wolke 9

A beautifully acted film that captures intimate feelings between people without unnecessary noise or clutter. Precise in its execution of scenes, the story takes the viewer through intimate moments between people and how aging can strengthen the passions, rather that diminish them as popular culture would have us believe. Whilst on the outside, the characters are "your average pensioners", on the inside they harbor deep, unfulfilled wells of desire which aging can only enhance. As one character Karl says: "I don't how long I have left" and at 76, he's making the most of it. And why not? We see in detail the attachments and separations unfolding between the three main characters in the excellent acting of the cast.

This film gives hope to us all as we age, that we will still be loved and desired, that sex can be in some ways more fulfilling and relationships less angst-ridden. But also that the cost of these things may well be higher as we have to let go of long-term habits and beliefs that have given us security and predictability. And that is the hardest thing to do in the seventh decade of life, an intense dilemma indeed which this film beautifully portrays.

This may be a good film. I have not the faintest idea in terms of how it develops beyond the first half hour, as that is all I could take before I feared that terminal boredom would get me for sure and I put on my recording of "Destry rides again" (James Stewart/Marlene Dietrich) to bring me back to life! I have heard that watching paint dry can be tiresome, but I found this, with its interminable panning shots and mumbled dialogue, the equivalent of listening to someone watching paint dry! No thanks/life's too short (as I presume was "the message" of this rambling cinematic outing????)Why DO so many German films have to be such stodgy, indigestible, s - l - o - w affairs? "Run, Lola, run" proves beyond the slightest doubt that they do not have to be!

Ursula Werner deserved her German Oscar for her performance in this film and so do her two male co-stars as well. This is a classic character portrait of film at it's best. It's not for children. It's mature viewing. Despite the subtitles, it's easy to follow the story. She plays a seamstress who takes on extra jobs to earn money. She lives with her husband of 30 years, Werner. She has an adult daughter, Petra, and grandchildren. Suddenly, she finds herself exploring her sexuality and falls in love with an older man. She's 67 years old. The film proves that older people like Inge are still sexually active. It's hard to imagine our grandparents being so sexual but this film helps us to dispel the notion that older people aren't sexually active anymore and have problems in their relationships as well. The film's message is that women may get to be grandmothers but they are still capable of sexuality and the need to be loved and affectionate in their years. Anyway, the film is quiet, understated but I'm not used to German films.

I was disappointed by this movie. The meaning in German Wolke 9 or Cloud nine means that a person is full of happiness through being in love and passion with another person, hence sailing on Cloud 9. I don't argue that this could not happen to a well mature couple, but it was lacking in this movie. From an aesthete point of view it was not necessary to show closes ups of the aged bodies. I remember the movie Cocoon, which had a lot more sense, action and humor, also relating to older couples that enjoy or rediscover love and passion. Even the few spoken dialogs were motionless. I believe that the story had more potential than it showed. Well, just my opinion.

Andreas Dresen has given us the most memorable movie in a long time. Great actors in front of a patient camera that either stands still to let action evolve or focuses on the faces. There is hardly any dialog in the first half of the film, character development occurs through the camera. It's the cinematic language that brings to mind Mike Leigh's films. As to the buzz about "old sex" - it's true, Mr. Dresen has broken into new realms showing elderly people making love good and proper, with lots of detail but never once overstepping limits of good taste. This movie concerns every one of us. Especially those over 60 will come out of the show and not be able to stop talking about it for hours, as it happened in Buenos Aires when strangers started lively discussions while walking out into the bright late afternoon. Don't miss it! It will shake you, but not break you, and certainly stay with you for a long time.