Sunday, June 17, 2012

Four Minutes (Vier Minuten)


Ms. Bleibtreu has dedicated her life to give piano lessons in a prison. Her increasingly scarce student, have learning disabilities.

She persists in her work even without being paid for a while, even if no one appreciatse her at the prison, even if she is getting older, lonelier and bitter. It is not her altruistic spirit to lead her to keep on going: her decision has more to do with the guilt and the pain of having had a forbidden relationship that she has tragically lost.


Being possessor of a talent that end up locked in dark walls, wasted before an audience that barely appreciates her, makes her quickly appreciate the talent of a young and troubled inmate who just entered: Hannah. With determination and hard work, Mrs. Bleibtreu will use all her strength to make her go into a competition and to get to appear before a large audience in a contest of young performers.

The film then focuses on the particular bond developed between the two women: the teacher who is sinking into a sad and empty decline and the student, whose enormous talent alone is comparable to the force she applied to self-destruction and to fighting against the world. In the middle of all this is what bonds them above their imperfections, pain and traumas: the music.


“Vier Minuten” is a film about the pain and the inability to get rid of it and how this makes us insensitive: like when we see Hannah in front of the death of his cellmate or the teacher systematically ignoring that outstanding student (a security guard) that admires her and want her to feel proud of him.

It is also a film about revenge, hatred and selfishness and, above all, a reminder of how art can beautify even the darkest moments and provide at least four minutes of light in the middle of darkness.


Director: Chris Kraus
Writer: Chris Kraus
Stars: Hannah Herzsprung, Monica Bleibtreu and Vadim Glowna

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