Die Unberührbare

The premise of this movie is a little silly, that a spoiled 50 year old Leninist writer living in West Germany finds her life unraveling due to the fact that the Berlin Wall has just come down. It's a little far fetched, but not entirely unbelievable. Like the flip side of "it's an ill wind", in this case it would be "it's a rare wind that doesn't blow somebody ill".

And I suppose it's pretty obvious that Hanna Flanders is meant to represent and symbolize the badly faded beauty of communism. But this didn't have much resonance for me.

All that political stuff aside, this was an extremely episodic movie. And unfortunately, most of the episodes just fell flat. One or two were engaging, and one, the one involving her spending the night with her horribly alcoholic ex-husband, was both pointless and extremely ugly, almost unwatchable.

The upside is that this was an extremely well crafted movie, apart from the screenplay. The cinematography, acting, directing, were all first rate. It's a pity they were wasted on a screenplay that was as cold, flat and ugly as the old regime it was directed against.

Another positive aspect is that the whole syndrome/complex of someone trying to use drugs to cope with reality and maintain an emotional equilibrium was well observed. And the fact that it was someone who should know better, an intelligent middle aged woman, was also useful. As shallow and self centered as Hanna is, I still felt some pity for her as a fellow human being.