Scene from the film Lenz
Scene from the film Lenz
Scene from the film Lenz
Scene from the film Lenz
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Lenz

Direction
Year 
2006
Country
  • Switzerland
Runtime
93min 
Audio Tracks 
Subtitles 

The filmmaker Lenz has left his native Berlin for the Vosges to research the story behind Georg Büchner's novel fragment Lenz. But he soon trades the Alsatian landscape for higher altitudes: the urge to see his nine-year-old son Noah takes him to the Swiss ski resort of Zermatt. With Noah's help, Lenz stages a reunion with his ex-wife Natalie, whom he still loves. The newfound closeness to his son, and the rekindled love for Natalie, form a brief idyll. But the fantasy of a happy family life is short-lived, overshadowed by Lenz' increasingly erratic behaviour. Noah and Natalie return to Zurich, and Lenz remains in the mountains, alone.

Just as Büchner based his novel on a real episode from the life of the German poet Lenz (1751–1805), Thomas Imbach freely mixes fact and fiction. Like his literary counterpart, the modern-day Lenz is a tortured visionary caught between euphoria and desperation. Imbach's film captures these mood swings with its eclectic visual and aural style. Lenz' turbulent inner states are mirrored by the elemental beauty of the natural landscape. The emotional drama of the main characters plays against a background of kitsch global tourism – provided by the authentic Zermatt locations and real people appearing in the village scenes. The intimately filmed scenes of romantic and family life provide a telling glimpse into the realities of contemporary relationships.

Film and video, staging and improvisation, actors and amateurs, tender love story and slapstick comedy: Imbach blends seeming opposites into an organic whole, underscored by an intense, dramatic soundtrack combining folk songs, pop music and re-processed natural sounds.

An unconventional, stormy portrait of a man whose life motto echoes the Romantic poets: Genius writes its own rules.

Details

  • Original Title
    Lenz
  • Direction
  • Screenplay
    Thomas Imbach
  • Cinematography
    Jürg Hassler, Thomas Imbach
  • Editing
    Thomas Imbach, Jürg Hassler
  • Music
    Peter Bräker, Balz Bachmann
  • Runtime
    93 min (91+ min.)
  • Year
    2006
  • Country
    • Switzerland
  • Format
    • Colour
  • Festivals
    • Berlinale 2006
    • Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independente 2011
    • Leeds International Film Festival 2006
    • Vancouver International Film Festival 2006
    • Festival internazionale del film Locarno 2006
    • Melbourne International Film Festival 2006
    • Filmfestival Linz 2006
    • Solothurner Filmtage 2006

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