Everyone Else (Saturday, April 10, 2010) (29)

Maren Ade's film Everyone Else is a beautiful and heartbreaking work about two young lovers, Gitti and Chris, who are on their summer holiday on Sardinia relaxing and spending time together. She is a free-spirit, artist who is much more likely to joke around than be serious. He is a traditional Teutonic worker who can be playful, but only for regimented periods of time. They split their time between erotic sex sessions and daily excursions to the beach or the mountains for a hike. Over the course of the film, their relationship continues to be punctuated by moments of uncomfortable tension, until it is clear that it is falling apart. This is a devastating, unromantic look at the reality of communication and how two people might not be right for one another.

All the elements of the film work beautifully together. The script, also by Ade, is really wonderful and she directs it beautifully. There are long scenes with very little dialogue that are excruciating because of the uncomfortable silences. The acting by Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger is really superb. It is clear they love each other, but they both are incredibly convincing in their very particular character. Technical elements of the film as well, like the cinematography, by Bernhard Keller, and the costumes, by Gitti Fuchs are simple, but elegant.

This is a long film. It only runs two hours, but feels every minute of it, as Ade rolls out the story in deep detail. She gets the most out of every scene - but it might be too much for many viewers. I didn't really mind the speed and pacing of the film, but I could see many finding it dull. You have to let the total film wash over you. It is Bergmanesque in it's painful detail. Imagine being on a terrible roller coaster ride that you can't get off. It's thrilling and difficult, but when it's over, you want to ride again.

This is about those relationships where you are madly in love with somebody, but reach a point where you are clear you are not right for one another... and still continue together out of sheer momentum. It's easier to stick together with the help of an occasional white lie, than to break up and face the loneliness of singlehood. Gitti and Chris have a ton in common and like spending time together most of the time, but simply don't connect on a basic level. She's too playful and too silly for him and he's too stern and too academic for her. She tries to become serious for him, but stumbles; he makes an effort to be goofy for her, but she doesn't buy it. Sex for them is a salve and a retreat - but it doesn't last all day.

I think this is also about the German-ness of Germans and how they can't deal with people who are less German than they. This is probably the same thing for virtually any group of people, I'm sure. An outsider is always an outsider and is hard to reform and make part of the greater group.

I love Ade's frankness with the subject matter and her honesty and kindness to both characters. She does not judge either party. It is neither Gitti's fault nor Chris' - it is a state of nature that they would love to be together, but simply cannot. They have a magnetism to one another, but are a very bad, destructive match of each other. There is a lot of power in the quiet moments of this film. I think that takes a true artist's touch to convey. I look forward to other work by Ade - not to mention future efforts by Minichmayr and Eidinger.

Stars: 4 of 4