Based on a non-fiction book by Vera Christiane Felscherinow Christiane F is an example tough, hard hitting, but excellent film about drug addiction that can stand alongside the likes of Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream and Thirteen.
Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a social housing building in West Berlin during the late 70s. Her younger sister moves out and her mother has a new boyfriend. Christiane starts to spend her Saturday evenings in a nightclub called Sound and soon befriends a group of teenagers, including Delef (Thomas Haustein) who becomes her boyfriend. She soon slides into a world of drugs, taking LSD and heroin and becomes a street prostitute when she is 14.
Christiane F. is a tough watch but director Uli Edel injects enough and Brunckhorst's performance makes the film a very compelling watch. Edel shows Berlin to be a very depressing, concert jungle that is decaying and uses dark and gritty cinematography constantly. Edel sets out to show the world as it is and we see the full efforts of heroin use and addiction as the characters physically and socially decay. Edel shows confidence with his staging, using steady camera and continuous takes to show characters, Christiane in the club or going into their drug apartment. There were two moments particularly that reminded me of Requiem for a Dream, one where Christiane is in the back of a car where she tries heroin for the first time and one in Bahnhof Zoo shot in a dream like way as we follow Christiane and has a fantastic deep piano song in the background.
Brunckhorst gave a fantastic, natural performance as we see Christiane becomes dependent on drugs. The whole cast were excellent and it is even more remarkable because many of them were non-actors in very tough roles and Christiane F. is their only acting credit. We see Christiane change physically, both with her dress and hair to losing weight and becomes more pale. There are tough but great sequence when Christiane gets high, shaking and swearing the middle of the night and the tough withdrawn sequence.
Christiane F. also has constant theme of foreshadowing of what could happen to Christiane, seeing how addict and people saying they don't want to do heroin before submitting. There are moments where addicts also try to talk people out of trying drugs in a half-hearted manner and the film aims for realistic behaviour of addicts, which was wonderfully handled.
Christiane F. also has a great soundtrack, both using David Bowie music and the score as already mention.
I have not read the book, so I cannot truly judge it as an adaption, but I would have been interesting to see how Christiane dealt with school as she became more addicted to heroin and looked more at her mother, either noticing or ignoring a change in her behaviour: even if it a quick discussion between the mum and the boyfriend and dismissing it as typical teenage rebellion.
Christiane F. is a very bleak and grim film but it is worth watching. It should be praised for its realism, actors, direction and style.
Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a social housing building in West Berlin during the late 70s. Her younger sister moves out and her mother has a new boyfriend. Christiane starts to spend her Saturday evenings in a nightclub called Sound and soon befriends a group of teenagers, including Delef (Thomas Haustein) who becomes her boyfriend. She soon slides into a world of drugs, taking LSD and heroin and becomes a street prostitute when she is 14.
Christiane F. is a tough watch but director Uli Edel injects enough and Brunckhorst's performance makes the film a very compelling watch. Edel shows Berlin to be a very depressing, concert jungle that is decaying and uses dark and gritty cinematography constantly. Edel sets out to show the world as it is and we see the full efforts of heroin use and addiction as the characters physically and socially decay. Edel shows confidence with his staging, using steady camera and continuous takes to show characters, Christiane in the club or going into their drug apartment. There were two moments particularly that reminded me of Requiem for a Dream, one where Christiane is in the back of a car where she tries heroin for the first time and one in Bahnhof Zoo shot in a dream like way as we follow Christiane and has a fantastic deep piano song in the background.
Brunckhorst gave a fantastic, natural performance as we see Christiane becomes dependent on drugs. The whole cast were excellent and it is even more remarkable because many of them were non-actors in very tough roles and Christiane F. is their only acting credit. We see Christiane change physically, both with her dress and hair to losing weight and becomes more pale. There are tough but great sequence when Christiane gets high, shaking and swearing the middle of the night and the tough withdrawn sequence.
Christiane F. also has constant theme of foreshadowing of what could happen to Christiane, seeing how addict and people saying they don't want to do heroin before submitting. There are moments where addicts also try to talk people out of trying drugs in a half-hearted manner and the film aims for realistic behaviour of addicts, which was wonderfully handled.
Christiane F. also has a great soundtrack, both using David Bowie music and the score as already mention.
I have not read the book, so I cannot truly judge it as an adaption, but I would have been interesting to see how Christiane dealt with school as she became more addicted to heroin and looked more at her mother, either noticing or ignoring a change in her behaviour: even if it a quick discussion between the mum and the boyfriend and dismissing it as typical teenage rebellion.
Christiane F. is a very bleak and grim film but it is worth watching. It should be praised for its realism, actors, direction and style.