Introduced by Julie McMorran this weeks Robert Burns Centre Film
Theatre Film Club showing of Die Wand (2012) is the
story of a women who is forced to break with her normal life by means of an
inexplicable phenomenon and live a new life in a strange and different
world.
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| The waiting. |
Visiting a cabin in the mountains with two friends, this nameless
middle aged woman along with her friends dog are left on there own when the
couple go off to walk to the nearest village. Following an early night the
woman awakens from a deep sleep to discover that her two friends have not
returned. After breakfast she sets off to the village to find them. A short way
down the road she discovers that a mysterious solid invisible barrier has
sprung up cutting her off from the outside world. The story is narrated as the
woman writes her 'report' on the limited amount of paper she has available. The
appearance of the invisible force field is never explained but would at
first appear to be an allegory for separation and the will to survive. This
landlocked female has only the dog, two cats and some farm animals for company.
Devoting herself to her animals especially Lynx the dog (who belongs to the
director) she makes a conscious decision to survive.
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| Die Wand! |
Directed and adapted from Austrian writer Marlen Haushofer’s
novel of the same name by Julian Roman Polsler, a man better known for
helming TV movies rather than feature films. He first read the book 25
years ago but did not gain the film rights until 18 years latter. First written
in 1963 but not published until two years before her death in 1968 from bone
cancer, Haushofer’s dystopian novel did not become a best seller until the 80’s
some ten years after her death.
 |
| The 'report'. |
Portraying a strong Germanic female goes back even beyond Leni
Riefenstahl and Polsler successfully continues this trait by casting the
powerful presence of Martina Gedeck in the role of the woman and even with no
human presence to interact with, proves her worth as an actress. Her credits
have included some very well known award winning German films including The
Lives of Others (2006) and The
Baader Meinhof Complex (2008).
 |
| The family. |
This powerful film was shot in the very photogenic Gosau region
of Upper Austria over a long 14-month period by nine of Austria's most
accomplished cinematographers including Martin Gschlacht (Lourdes 2010 Ravanche 2008) and
Christian Berger (The White Ribbon 2009)
 |
| Survival. |
The discussion following the screening debated two
main points, the theory about the human animal bond and how good this is for
the health of the human as well as the dog, lowering blood pressure and
cholesterol levels. The second point of discussion was the Film Clubs analysis
of the film, which did vary. The book is said to voice the nuclear anxieties of the sixties
but survival and loneliness where two of the interpretations as was the author’s
metal state. Allegedly whist writing the book she was said to be dissatisfied
with life and suffering from serious depression, the eminent psychiatrist
Paulas Hochgatterer said that the book ‘is
a precise description of clinical depression’.
 |
| At peace. |
This minimalist film where almost nothing happens, has been accused
of being a feminist statement, ‘because
the fact that the characters a woman plays an important role. It’s no
coincidence that all male energy is snuffed out: the dog, the man and the bull
all die, while the woman, the cat and the cow survive’[1] By the end of the film she
has not so much become androgynous, as transcending sexual identity, is this
feminism? Perhaps a little long but that does not alter the fact that this film
is an exceptional piece’s of work both from the leading lady and the director.
Not quite up to Tarkovsky’s masterpiece Stalker (1979) but like
that film it is stark, emotionally gripping and transcends loneliness.
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| Acceptance. |
The question I think the film raises is how much do we really
need human contact?
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