Maria Schrader Movies

Following in the footsteps of The Weight of Water and other recent films, Hans W. Geissendorfer's arthouse drama Snowland (AKA Schneeland, 2004) juxtaposes stories set in two different time frames. In contemporary Sweden, Elisabeth (Maria Schrader), a young wife and mother, learns that her husband was just killed in an automobile accident. Grief-stricken beyond the point of consolation, she shuttles the kids off to a relative's house, climbs into the car with plans to end her life, and drives headfirst into a blinding snowstorm, where her car breaks down and she makes her way to a nearby cabin for help. Upon discovering that the building's only resident has frozen to death, Elisabeth then uses various items located in the house to reconstruct the story of the woman's life. The film then flashes back to 1937, when Ina (Julia Jentsch), a young woman, found herself entrapped by the incestuous domination of her bastard father, Knovel (Ulrich Muhe). When a handsome and slightly enigmatic young stranger named Aron (Thomas Kretschmann) arrived and moved into the home of a neighboring couple, Salomon and Helga (Oliver Stokowski and Ina Weisse), Elisabeth fell hopelessly for him - little realizing that Helga also had romantic designs on the new arrival. Step by step, piece by piece, Elisabeth gains insights from the story into the problems plaguing her own life, and much-needed wisdom that will ultimately help her survive. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A hectic young father's family life takes a turn for the worse in Swiss director Dani Levy's 2002 comedy/drama I'm the Father. Architect Marco Krieger (Sebastian Blomberg) has been working hard on a new project that will be the crowning achievement to his short career and will also make his name in the industry -- but his relationships with his son Benny (Ezra Valentin Lenz) and wife Melanie (Maria Schrader) have suffered greatly as a result. Marco has failed to notice how dire the situation is, however, until Melanie leaves with Benny and promptly files for divorce with severe custody limitations. Shattered and distraught, Marco must reevaluate his desires for success in the business world against his desires to be a father and husband, ultimately choosing the latter. The problem now is convincing Melanie to let him back into their lives, which may require extraordinary action on his part. I'm the Father was screened as part of the 2002 Montreal World Film Festival. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

A would-be ad man starts talking his way to the top, only to discover he has a shortage of usable ideas in this satiric German comedy. Viktor Vogel (Alexander Scheer) is a college student who decides he's tired of studying advertising and wants to go out and start making a living, even though he has more in the way of bluster than experience. Viktor fast-talks his way into a meeting at a major advertising agency and somehow his double talk impresses one of the firm's top executives, who hires him on the spot. Viktor is teamed up Eddie Kaminsky (Gotz George), one of the agencies top directors, and Eddie (who makes his dislike of Viktor immediately clear) needs an idea for a new campaign on the spot. Viktor pitches an idea to Eddie, who decides to go with it, but there's one problem -- it's the same idea Viktor's new girlfriend Rosa (Chulpan Khamatova) came up with for an art project. Obviously, neither side will be happy when they discover they're both using the same idea, so Viktor has to ask himself if his loyalties lie with his new employers or his significant other. Viktor Vogel -- Commercial Man was released in the United States as Advertising Rules. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The opening film of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999, Aimée & Jaguar drew attention not only for the lesbian love story that it narrates, but equally for the political position of the lovers -- Aimée, the wife of a Nazi officer, and Jaguar, a Jewish journalist. The story is based on the memoirs of Lilly Wust (the Aimée character), who is 85 and still living in Germany. In 1943, as Allied bombers leave Berlin in ruins, Lilly Wust Juliane Köhler earns a Cross of Motherhood for bringing up four children while husband Günther Detlev Buck is away fighting on the eastern front. She leads a bourgeois existence, with occasional love affairs on the side, and the bust of Hitler is a prominent decoration in their flat. When Lilly receives a love letter signed 'Jaguar,' she suspects a male admirer. But it is the self-confident Felice Schragenheim Maria Schrader who initiates this forbidden romance. A passionate love affair begins amidst the bombing raids and the threat of persecution. Madly in love, Lilly wants to divorce her husband, which causes a terrible storm, not just because her lover is a woman, but because she is Jewish and fighting for the Resistance. But nothing stops the love-blind Lilly. The two women make a pact of love and marriage and try to block out the reality of war and persecution; however, the Gestapo soon catches up with them. Aimée & Jaguar is based on Erica Fischer's best-selling book, published in 1994 and translated into eleven languages; the real life Lilly Wust was 80 years old when she told Erica Fischer her story. Maria Schrader and Juliane Köhler shared the Silver Bear for the Best Actress at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, for their roles in Aimée & Jaguar, while the film received the Teddy Award, given to films dealing with gay and lesbian issues. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Dani Levy directed and co-stars in this German-Austrian political thriller. Lena Katz (Maria Schrader), living in New York, is the granddaughter of Jewish chocolate-factory owner Eliah Goldberg (Lukas Ammann), whose factory in Germany has been recently set on fire by some anti-Semitic thugs. In NYC, German émigrée Mrs. Fish (Lynn Cohen) reads about the fire and recognizes Goldberg as her father, who she thought was long dead, a victim of the Holocaust. Mrs. Fish phones her son David (Dani Levy), who hires Jewish activist attorney Charles Kaminski (David Strathairn) to contact Goldberg. At the same time, Lena's mom (Nicole Heesters) is visiting New York, and when Lena goes to see her at her hotel, she finds Mrs. Fish near death in the hallway, the victim of an attempted murder. She's taken to the hospital -- where David and Lena meet and begin to learn about their mysterious shared backgrounds and past history. Made with English and German dialogue, this film was shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A Berlin woman endeavors to choose between two lovers on a snowy Christmas Eve in this German drama. Art student Julia has been living with Christian, a policeman, for several years, but has recently embarked on an affair with Frank, a bartender. She is first seen waiting for Frank so she can tell him that she chooses Christian. Suddenly the phone rings. It is Christian calling to tell her that he is in east Germany recuperating from a skull fracture. Frank then calls for a little sex-talk, he voices his doubts about Christian's story. Sure enough, after he hangs up, Christian calls, perfectly healthy, for a little intercourse himself. Julie is naturally confused by her men and so goes to bed. No sooner does she fall asleep when Frank appears armed with body oil and a gas mask. The telephone interrupts their passion. Once again it's Christian. This time, Julia figures out that he is in their Paris love nest and so sends him a fax to tell him so. She and Frank then go frolicking in the snow while Christian gets involved with a singer. Matters are finally resolved with the revelation of Julia's closely guarded secret. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A lover, an ultimatum, a phone call, and a gun: these elements are found in each segment of Hal Hartley's Flirt, an experimental comedy-drama that essentially repeats the same story three times. But while the basic narrative remains the same -- a congenital flirt must decide whether or not to commit to a current lover, who otherwise will marry someone else -- the details differ greatly, from the location of the film to the gender of the participants. The initial segment, set in New York, tells the tale with a male flirt in turmoil over his relationship with a woman. The film then moves to Berlin, where the same drama is played out amongst a gay male couple, with an added touch of self-reflexive humor. The third and final episode takes place in Tokyo, with a female flirt and a more abstract cinematic approach, including several sequences in traditional Japanese pantomime. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

An exploration of the revival of Nazi sentiment in Germany is the theme of the five short films gathered together in this anthology. In the first film, titled "Ohne Mich" (Without Me), the lead character, an aspiring documentary filmmaker named Dani Levy, tries to get some attention for his film about skinheads versus Turkish immigrants. However, as a Jewish lad in today's Germany, his fears for the future prompt him to move to the moon.The second film captures the spirit of triumphalism in the celebrations of the reuniting of Germany, and it titled "Short Circuit." It takes the wiring difficulties of Helmut Kohl's Leipzig speech as being prophetic of difficulties to come. The third film is a surrealistic consideration of the captivity of a documentary maker by a Hitler-loving couple, entitled "Sacred Cows." The penultimate film is titled "A Place, A Suicide," and shows the suicidal reaction of a newly crippled man to the taunt by a group of boys that "Hitler would have had you gassed." The final film is a documentary featuring interviews with to punk rockers who were savagely beaten by Nazi-influenced skinheads, entitled "Victims, Witnesses." ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In a future world not long from now, the sun's rays have become injurious to the health of everyone living on the planet, and mankind has taken to living during the dark hours of the night. Not everyone is content with this, and virtual reality films help those who miss the sun over their psychological withdrawal pangs - and for those who can't afford that, there are postcards from the daytime. It is illegal to spend any time under the sun, in addition to being dangerous, but Herzog (Rainer Egger) doesn't care. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Robby (Dani Levy) has a girlfriend, Henny (Anja Franke). Returning from a business trip to Japan, he finds that his roommate Kalle (Frank Beilicke) has seduced her in his absence, and that she has moved into their shared apartment. Robby's emotional disarray is too much for the new couple, and Henny moves out. The two men take on a new roommate, Paul (Josef Hoffmann), who is smitten by one of his female coworkers, Tilla (Nina Schultz), who in turn is attracted to Kalle. The elaborate romantic strategems and chest-thumping rivalry of these three men provide much of the comic material for this film. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide