Wintersleepers
Encyclopedia
Wintersleepers is a 1997 German film directed by Tom Tykwer
. It was premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival
.
winter resort of Berchtesgaden
in Bavaria
; the story begins shortly after Christmas Day, with five people returning, not all of whom are connected.
Laura, a nurse, and Rebecca, a translator, live together in the house that Rebecca inherited from her great aunt. René is a projectionist in a cinema. Marco, Rebecca's boyfriend, is a skiing instructor who drives an expensive Alfa Romeo
. Theo is a farmer who lives with his wife and daughter on a poor farm nearby.
When Marco arrives, he is greeted passionately by Rebecca, and tugged into the house. He leaves his car open outside, with the key still in the ignition. It is the early morning, and René, walking drunkenly home, passes the house, taking pictures, among other things, of Rebecca and Marco having sex inside. Finally, he climbs into the car and drives away. Theo, meanwhile, is taking his horse to the veterinarian, but doesn't let his daughter come with him. He doesn't notice when she gets into the horse box with the animal. Theo, distracted by his kids calling him on a walkie-talkie and driving on the wrong side of the road almost collides with René. The Alfa Romeo crashes off the road and into a snowdrift and Rene is not hurt; however, the horse box is flipped over and the girl and horse badly injured. Theo is dazed, but René, rather than helping, takes a photo of him and walks off. When Theo is helped out of his truck by a passing driver, he shoots the horse on the spot and takes his daughter to the hospital.
There, Laura hears Theo becoming obsessed with finding the man who caused the accident, to prove his own innocence: no-one believes that there was another car, because it is buried under snow. All he remembers was the shape of René's face close to him, when he took the photo. The young girl is operated-on and is in a coma
, between life and death.
Meanwhile, Marco reports the car theft to the police. Rebecca is becoming discontent with her relationship with him; she sees him as taking her for granted, jealous, and lacking ambition. Outside of their sex life, they fight constantly. Laura gets to know René after a play in which she was performing; he gives her a free pass for the cinema where he works, and eventually he shows her his photos, which he keeps in an album with numbers and dates. The reason he takes them is his short-term memory
problems; without photos he would have no way of remembering places or people.
Theo and his wife have to shut the farm down because of debt. He draws a picture of the shape he remembers, copies it and sticks them up around town, appealing for anyone to come forward if they recognize the scar on the back of the head (like that of René). But Theo's wife takes down all his posters, believing he is only trying to escape his own guilt and explaining that she's ashamed.
Marco has started an affair with Nina, a student from the skiing class he teaches. He invites her to his boss's house one evening, pretending it is his. Later, he has to go to Laura's hospital after burning himself on the coffee machine, and while he is there, Theo's daughter dies.
Theo, investigating the site of the car crash again, finds the buried car and comes across documents showing Marco to be the owner. Theo goes to Marco's workplace (the ski area) and is told Marco is skiing in the mountains, with Nina. They become separated in fog, and Nina injures herself by falling off a ledge and onto a tree. Desperately trying to find Nina, Marco meets Theo on the mountainside where Theo sets his dog onto Marco. When Marco demands to know what's happening, Theo explains only "You killed her." Not knowing about Theo's daughter, Marco starts to panic about losing Nina. After beating off Theo's German shepherd, Marco manages to ski hurriedly away before going over the edge of a cliff, and he falls, seemingly forever, into a crevasse in the valley, to his death.
In another coincidence, Rebecca and the injured Nina depart on the same train, but don't know each other. The film ends with the birth of René and Laura's child.
The soundtrack
album was released on 3 November 1997 on Ariola Records
/BMG
. It contains the songs "Untitled #1" by Spain
, and Fratres
by Arvo Pärt
, but the album has become extremely rare since its release.http://www.tomtykwer.com/03_filmographie/35_winterschlaefer/index.shtml http://www.amazon.de/dp/B000026G0E
Tom Tykwer
Tom Tykwer is a German film director, screenwriter, and composer. He is best known internationally for directing Run Lola Run , Heaven , Perfume: The Story of a Murderer , and The International ....
. It was premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival
Locarno International Film Festival
The Film Festival Locarno is an international film festival held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. After Cannes and Venice and together with Karlovy Vary, Locarno is the Film Festival with the longest history...
.
Plot
The film is set in the deeply snowy alpineAlps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
winter resort of Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...
in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
; the story begins shortly after Christmas Day, with five people returning, not all of whom are connected.
Laura, a nurse, and Rebecca, a translator, live together in the house that Rebecca inherited from her great aunt. René is a projectionist in a cinema. Marco, Rebecca's boyfriend, is a skiing instructor who drives an expensive Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...
. Theo is a farmer who lives with his wife and daughter on a poor farm nearby.
When Marco arrives, he is greeted passionately by Rebecca, and tugged into the house. He leaves his car open outside, with the key still in the ignition. It is the early morning, and René, walking drunkenly home, passes the house, taking pictures, among other things, of Rebecca and Marco having sex inside. Finally, he climbs into the car and drives away. Theo, meanwhile, is taking his horse to the veterinarian, but doesn't let his daughter come with him. He doesn't notice when she gets into the horse box with the animal. Theo, distracted by his kids calling him on a walkie-talkie and driving on the wrong side of the road almost collides with René. The Alfa Romeo crashes off the road and into a snowdrift and Rene is not hurt; however, the horse box is flipped over and the girl and horse badly injured. Theo is dazed, but René, rather than helping, takes a photo of him and walks off. When Theo is helped out of his truck by a passing driver, he shoots the horse on the spot and takes his daughter to the hospital.
There, Laura hears Theo becoming obsessed with finding the man who caused the accident, to prove his own innocence: no-one believes that there was another car, because it is buried under snow. All he remembers was the shape of René's face close to him, when he took the photo. The young girl is operated-on and is in a coma
Coma
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
, between life and death.
Meanwhile, Marco reports the car theft to the police. Rebecca is becoming discontent with her relationship with him; she sees him as taking her for granted, jealous, and lacking ambition. Outside of their sex life, they fight constantly. Laura gets to know René after a play in which she was performing; he gives her a free pass for the cinema where he works, and eventually he shows her his photos, which he keeps in an album with numbers and dates. The reason he takes them is his short-term memory
Short-term memory
Short-term memory is the capacity for holding a small amount of information in mind in an active, readily available state for a short period of time. The duration of short-term memory is believed to be in the order of seconds. A commonly cited capacity is 7 ± 2 elements...
problems; without photos he would have no way of remembering places or people.
Theo and his wife have to shut the farm down because of debt. He draws a picture of the shape he remembers, copies it and sticks them up around town, appealing for anyone to come forward if they recognize the scar on the back of the head (like that of René). But Theo's wife takes down all his posters, believing he is only trying to escape his own guilt and explaining that she's ashamed.
Marco has started an affair with Nina, a student from the skiing class he teaches. He invites her to his boss's house one evening, pretending it is his. Later, he has to go to Laura's hospital after burning himself on the coffee machine, and while he is there, Theo's daughter dies.
Theo, investigating the site of the car crash again, finds the buried car and comes across documents showing Marco to be the owner. Theo goes to Marco's workplace (the ski area) and is told Marco is skiing in the mountains, with Nina. They become separated in fog, and Nina injures herself by falling off a ledge and onto a tree. Desperately trying to find Nina, Marco meets Theo on the mountainside where Theo sets his dog onto Marco. When Marco demands to know what's happening, Theo explains only "You killed her." Not knowing about Theo's daughter, Marco starts to panic about losing Nina. After beating off Theo's German shepherd, Marco manages to ski hurriedly away before going over the edge of a cliff, and he falls, seemingly forever, into a crevasse in the valley, to his death.
In another coincidence, Rebecca and the injured Nina depart on the same train, but don't know each other. The film ends with the birth of René and Laura's child.
Production
The film is based on the novel Expense of Spirit by Anne-Françoise Pyszora; however, this original story does not contain the character of Theo, and takes place in summer: Tykwer felt the film would be more attractive in a snowy winter setting. The story of the two couples is faithful to the novel.The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
album was released on 3 November 1997 on Ariola Records
Ariola Records
Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...
/BMG
BMG
Bertelsmann Music Group, , was a division of Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japan's Sony Corporation of America on October 1, 2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music label activities of Bertelsmann...
. It contains the songs "Untitled #1" by Spain
Spain (band)
Spain are an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1993, and led by Josh Haden. Originally comprising Haden, his sister Petra Haden and Evan Hartzell, their debut album The Blue Moods of Spain was released in September 1995...
, and Fratres
Fratres
Fratres is a composition by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, existing in versions for a wide variety of instrumentations and exemplifying Pärt's tintinnabuli style of composition. Structurally, the piece consists of a set of eight or nine chord sequences, separated by a recurring percussion motif...
by Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
, but the album has become extremely rare since its release.http://www.tomtykwer.com/03_filmographie/35_winterschlaefer/index.shtml http://www.amazon.de/dp/B000026G0E