As the city of Zurich gears up to celebrate Christmas, people from all quarters make their plans for the big day. The story revolves around the Christmas events of Mia – a prostitute by profession, her boyfriend, her neighbour, her colleagues and a couple of her clients – many of whom decide to live their dream on this promising Christmas day. The quintessential conflict between their dreams and the reality catches up on them and while some of them get away with it, some get the stick!
Language:
German
Running Time:
98 min
Rating:
–
Release date:
20 September 2013
Directed by:
Petra Biondina Volpe
Produced by:
Lukas Hobi
Reto Schaerli
Written by:
Petra Biondina Volpe
Starring:
Luna Zimic Mijovic
André Jung
Bettina Stucky
Marisa Paredes
Ursina Lardi
Devid Striesow
Music by:
Sascha Ring
Shot by:
Jan Dellaert
Judith Kaufmann
Editing by:
Hansjörg Weissbrich
Distributed by:
Farbfilm Verleih GmbH

What’s Hot

  • The casting of André Jung as Rolf, the lonely old man coping with a recent divorce and lack of reciprocation from his daughter, seems just perfect as he is able to show his ache in good emotion. His interactions with Mia and his dad give show us two different natures of the character.
  • Marisa Paredes as the old widow Maria is another valuable addition to the cast. She can be the annoying neighbour, the languishing mother, the seductive host – all at once and with great finesse.
  • Despite the explicit theme of the movie, the director has to be commended for very minimal scenes of explicit nature. Even the few such scenes including the one where one of the ladies get raped, there is no graphic content, yet the image is powerfully conveyed to the audience due to the Petra’s brilliant conceptualization.
  • The dialogues are strong, hard hitting and effective to convey the essence of the conversations which form major portions of the movie. Rolf and his dad, Maria and Juan, Lena and Martin, Lena and Mia – Each of them form the crux of which the story progresses.

What’s Not

  • The characterization of Ursina Lardi as the pregnant wife who discovers her husband’s habit with prostitutes could have been more mature as she keeps bringing up the topic in front of her son! – She should have known better considering how well she handled the discovery.
  • The inclusion of a little too many characters makes the screenplay wander too much and there was not substantial impact by some of them on the story. Though all of them are related to the central character, the one of Bettina Stucky for example was glaringly sidelined compared to the others.

Badges

Screened at

The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) 2014

The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) 2014 scheduled from Dec 18 -25 is an annual film festival organised by a film society, the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), with the support of the government of Tamil Nadu, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and the Film Federation of India.

Event Info

Date of Screening : 20-Dec-2014
Venue and Time : Inox – 3, 10.00 AM

About

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

There are two lives for each one of us, the one we dream to and the one we are trapped into! Dreamland is where the attempt of such trapped beings to break away and live their dreams, is captured and where they are left to face the consequences of trying to upset the systematic compulsions – All presented in a touching fashion!