Dreileben (2011) / Etwas Besseres als den Tod
Television Film | Romantic Drama | Germany | German | 1h28m | Dir: Christian Petzold | Scr: Christian Petzold | Ph: Hans Fromm | Prod: Florian Koerner von Gustorf & Michael Weber | Mus: Stefan Will | Cast: Jacob Matschenz, Luna Zimic Mijovic, Vijessna Ferkic, Rainer Bock, Konstantin Frolov, Florian Bartholomäi, Stefan Kurt
With a police search for an escaped murderer going on in the background, a duplicitous male nurse and a hot-headed hotel maid spark up a fiery relationship, in Petzold’s disquieting, creepily scored television play – the first part of the Dreileben trilogy. And although the yo-yoing central romance often proves decidedly annoying, the film ultimately (just about) succeeds thanks to the gradual accumulation of socio-political subtext and allegorical detail, which greatly enrich a second viewing. The ending, if a tad predictable, also proves rather powerful.
