Four Minutes takes a look at prison life from a German perspective. I found the concept of a German prison movie intriguing, since I am unfamiliar with their Judicial system. I think the prison aspects of this film were probably poorly designed, but the story itself was superbly crafted.
Four Minutes opens with an examination of contrasts. Birds flying free overhead are tracked in the open sky. As the camera follows them the camera tilts toward the horizon, bringing the razorwire above a security fence into view. The angle almost makes it look as if the birds are caged. We then cut away to the interior of the prison where a body dangles at the end of a bed where a female prisoner remains asleep. Contrast seems to be a theme that runs throughout the film as a visual theme.
The sleeping girl is Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung). We cut away to an elderly woman who is riding in a moving truck with two convicted felons who are listening to headbanging music while toting a grand piano in the bed of the truck. The elderly woman is Traude (Monica Bleibtreu). She calmly leans over and switches the radio to a classical music station. More contrast...but audio this time. Audio contrast runs as another theme. It represents the bottled up music hidden in the recesses of Jenny's soul. The contrast eventually pours out of her near the end of the film.
Maybe the contrast is an indication of guilt and innocence. Is Jenny the criminal or is she a victim? The same question could be asked of Traude. Sudden eruptive violence from the calm. Calm from the violence. Contrast is found in the captor who becomes the freer. The concept of contrast weaves throughout this tale that bounces between times frames with a musical fluidity. There were times I was watching where I thought I was reading music. Oh, we just returned to a previous starting point, Del Segro.
Traude is the Piano Teacher at the women's prison. She has worked there as long as the prison has been there. She was there when the SS killed her lover decades ago and remain tied to the institution. Is her dedication out of loyalty or guilt? Jenny is a new-comer to the prison and was trained to play piano from a very young age. She has won many competitions but is filled with an unquenchable rage. She is also filled with an insatiable desire to play the piano. The conflicting traits leave her torn between submission and freedom through her music. The balance is tenuous.
Traude is tough, unfeeling and closed off. Her only passion is music. Nothing beyond music moves her. Her awkwardness around people is demonstrated in her exchanges with a young girl that are forced at best. Her recognition of Jenny's incredible talent consumes her with a mission to help the girl unlock her potential at any cost. Yet Traude creates her own contrast by refusing to allow Jenny to fully release her passion through the music by limiting her musical options. The many contrasts converge at a single crescendo where the music takes control of the story.
I was impressed with the symbolism and quality of the story. The movement between scenes from varying time periods was a bit hard to follow at first, but soon made sense. It mimicked the music. The pacing was metronomic, creating space and timing where it was needed. The characters were quirky and unpredictable which made them engaging and interesting. It also kept the story edgy. The characters may have been unpredictable to a fault, but I enjoyed them. The only drawback to the story was the credibility. There were several scenes where a violent convicted murderer was left completely unobserved in an unconfined area. Although unfamiliar with the German Judicial system, that concept seems highly suspect to me.
Four Minutes was written and directed by Chris Kraus. I am unfamiliar with Kraus, who only has a handful of films to his credit. I think I will be likely to watch some of his other films to see if they exhibit the same depth and quality as Four Minutes. Kraus had a great cast to work with. There was something about Traude's make-up that niggled at me a bit, but her performance was stunning. Bleibtreu had great chemistry, which was intentionally unbalanced, with Herzsprung. The two were able to carry the film with a strong supporting cast of minor players.
Four Minutes contains adult themes to include incest, alternate lifestyles, murder, execution and torture. The film also depicts bullying, alcohol consumption, smoking and strong language. The film is very violent at times, but not in a graphic way. The violence is contextual and essential to the story. All of the adult themes play into the storyline and are there for a reason. There were no sex scenes or nudity. The strong material might be too much for pre-teens, so thirteen would probably be a good starting point. Run time is one hour, 52 minutes.
Four Minutes appealed to me visually from the outset. The film needed no dialogue as it set the stage and introduced the characters. As the dialogue is introduced we become more familiar with a strange group of characters thrown together by fate. They provide studies in contrast as a story of potential and achievement unfolds. The soundtrack was decent but not exceptional and the music was not always in perfect sync with the corresponding scenes. That and the lack of credibility hurt the film slightly, but not enough not to recommend this film. 7.5/10.
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