Vengeance à Quatre Mains

Sisterly love - and guilt to a degree. But a guilt most of us have never experienced in a sibling relationship. If your parents get murdered when you are young ... that will leave quite the scars. And it is exactly what happens here - it's how the movie begins quite frankly. From there we jump forward and see the girls who have grown up, but never fully overcame what happened ... can you blame them? One might or seems to have less issues than the other and there might be a reason for that.

Now there are many things that might make this true and the movie keeps you guessing, especially when it blurs line between reality and what the main character(s) see! I am not used to seeing a German thriller movie that works quite as well - is something I am used hearing and I have said it before too. But recent years have shown to those who doubt the quality (or maybe are just plain fed up with all the comedies and dramas and lack of good genre content) ... that they shouldn't! And this movie is another very fine example of that ...

Normally I'm not the genre-film-type, but the premise of this film sounded intriguing--also, I like stories with strong/tough female characters. My expectations weren't that high, though I'm open for surprises. And, boy, was I blown away! The actresses are fantastic, the screenplay is well written and effectively executed. The suspense builds early on and never let's off until the final nail-biting minutes. You never know what to expect from the next scene, you'll be surprised, thrilled and totally engaged in the story. I would recommend this film to anyone with a taste for genre-fare, thrillers, or fine cinema in general. As a woman I'm especially excited that 'Die Vierhändige' centers on strong female protagonists and doesn't shy away from bending the gender-rules in cinema. At least a little bit. Just watch it!

I saw this film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and was pleasantly surprised. 'Four Hands' is a nice piece of well-made cinema, riveting, gripping and surprising. I wouldn't consider myself a genre-aficionado but I'm always open for a thriller or crime-film that surpasses the norm. This film avoids the standard formula in that it tells a genuine, uncompromising story, while it nods elegantly to other movies of the same vein without copying them. There are familiar motives and characterizations the audience will recognize and relate to: a revenge plot, existential fear, identity conflict, a whodunit--though writer/director Oliver Kienle knows how to bend expectations while telling a compelling story. Every other scene there's a nice twist or innovative idea that keeps the engine running and the audience on the edge of their seats. Although 'Four Hands' doesn't reinvent the wheel it is without question one of the best films I saw in a while.

'Die Vierhändige' ('Four Hands' in English) is an author movie written and directed by German filmmaker Oliver Kienle. It is a film that surprised me (for the better) by the quality and expressiveness of the image and by the intensity of the actors' acting. It demands attention to watch, and there is a danger that it will lose some of its audience in the middle, especially those who are used to the logical, deterministic and linear plots of German detective films. The authors emphasized the psychological side and the trauma suffered by the characters. The degree of ambiguity of the story allows different interpretations according to the personal perspective of each of the viewers. It's not an easy movie to watch, but it's interesting and well-made enough to be worth watching. Those who will - more or less easily - overcome the difficult moments of the story will be rewarded.

It's one of those movies of which you can say very little about the story so as not to spoil the enjoyment and interest of future viewers. Two sisters witness in their early childhood the brutal murder of their parents. The experience traumatizes them and binds them to each other for the rest of their lives. When the assassins are released - after serving their 20-year sentences - their destinies are again dramatically influenced.

Oliver Kienle's script proposes an interesting and original combination. The film has only a handful ofc significant characters (the sisters, a nurse who befriends one of them, the criminals who appear in only one scene each) and yet the entire action takes place amidst the crowded cities and institutions of contemporary Germany. A house also appears, oddly placed in the landscape, suggesting the strange things that happen in it. The cinematography by Yoshi Heimrath is designed in a post-Hitchcockian style, combining chamber drama with hallucinatory outdoor scenes, in hospitals, in discotheques, in concert halls. There is a lot of darkness in this film, the colors when they appear are also blurred. The disorientation of the heroes is also transmitted to the audience along with a feeling of insecurity about the understanding of what we see on the screen. Frida-Lovisa Hamann and Friederike Becht create memorable roles as the two sisters. Christoph Letkowski should provide a balancing act in the role of the character who should but mostly fails to represent a point of emotional stability. Music plays an important role in the film, and the soundtrack created by Heiko Maile completed with fragments of classical music performed on the piano contributes to the atmosphere of suspense and uncertainty. 'Die Vierhändige' is a good psychological thriller, one of the well-made films in this genre that I have seen lately.

Wow im impressed.

Cinematography/visual imagery 10/10 Acting from both Sisters 10/10 when she turns into the other one is some realy creepy and disturbing stuff.

Loved the genre too its Thriller,Psycho-thriller,horror at times, Crime,Drama just to name a few. This movie gave me everything "Split" couldn't, hat's off to you germans this one is a gem.