How the human mind can just snap without reason is an endlessly fascinating subject which, in movie form, enables a reflection on our being that often proves vastly enlightening, thought-provoking. German dramedy "Hedi Schneider steckt fest (Hedi Schneider Is Stuck)" is plagued by too much flimsiness, however, to move, challenge, or make any sort of point at all.
Starting off amusingly enough, the titular character first gets literally trapped in an elevator, then one day just falls prey to the wiring of her own head, where no amount of patient waiting seems to help anymore. Writer/director Sonja Heiss has a knack for milking the most comedy out of neurotic figures and situations, so the laughs come easily, even when the quirks feel artificial after a while and the narrative threatens to dissolve into context-less, ha-ha anecdotes. What really does the movie in is the faulty second half, where the tone wobbles and the eccentric, impulsive behavior of the protagonists comes across as strangely robotic, childish in light of the seriously unfunny condition of chronic anxiety. The ineloquence continues with the completely out-of-the-blue, last-minute attempt to wrap things up on a note of spiritual cleansing and new beginnings. Disingenuously new-agey, the ending doesn't have the desired transcendent effect but rather deepens the impression of hyped inconsequence.
Like the movie itself, the performances by the two leads Laura Tonke and Hans Löw work better in purely comedic realm. Cracks of one-dimensionality begin to show when she plays the suffering wife too straight and he goes for the frustrated husband pushed to infidelity. A technical highlight is the delightful score by Lambert, whose candy-coated synthesized melody sounds soothing and surreal like elevator music from the cosmos, bringing the film to an unlikely climax during a fantastical night-walk sequence.
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen