Amnesia (I) (2015) User Reviews

Is forgetting a blessing? Is remembering a duty?

[guy-bellinger · 7/10 · 28 September 2015]

Barbet Schroeder's last opus could not be more aptly titled than "Amnesia". His film indeed concerns not one but three different cases of chosen amnesia : one symbolized by a nightclub whose (actual) name, "Amnesia", suggests a place where you forget your problems and where you dance to a new type of music (electronic dance) that obliterates the music of the past ; the second sort of willful oblivion is the one exercised by Jo, the young German musician of the story, his mother, his grandfather and by extension, the bulk of the German people when it comes to the Nazi past of their country ; the third kind of intended forgetfulness is embodied by the heroin, Martha, who, after being traumatized by Nazi acts of violence she once witnessed has vowed to reject everything German, starting with speaking her mother tongue.

All these notions materialize in a plot taking place on the island of Ibiza in the early 1990s, shortly after Reunification, and revolving around Martha, the German woman who does not want to hear about anything German. Sixty-year-old and happy with the house she lives in and the lovely nature surrounding it, Martha lives by herself most of the time. One day though, her new neighbor Jo, a young musician from Berlin, lands on her doorstep in need of something. And despite his being received coolly on this occasion, the young man soon grows fond of her, and she of him. But the odd thing is that both communicate in English, Jo being unaware Martha is German. How will Jo react when he learns that her new friend is German like him without her telling him and realizes how ludicrous it is for the two of them to express themselves in a foreign idiom instead of their mutual native language...?

As you can see, the storyline is thin, very thin : it definitely lacks the scope necessary to do full justice to the lofty themes Barbet Schroeder, the director of such great movies as "More", "Reversal of Fortune" or "Terror's Advocate", has undertaken to deal with. Yet the result is an interesting, at times touching, albeit quite uneven little film, the first part faring better than the second one. Which is too bad since in such a case the final impression you get is negative even if, as a whole, the movie is quite acceptable. The trouble in this section, as a matter of fact, is Barbet Schroeder's inability to give flesh to his characters, since they are used almost exclusively to convey ideas. In these conditions it comes as no surprise that "Amnesia" finds its nadir then, as illustrated by the dinner sequence in which Jo's grandfather (Bruno Ganz) confesses his guilt. Meant as an emotional climax the scenes not only fail to shake the viewer but sink into grandiloquence and ridicule as well. Simply because the director has not managed to make us believe the grandfather was a human being; to us he is only the puppet of an abstract notion.

This is all the more regrettable as in the first part the writer- director has shown he could manage to delineate his characters with subtlety. Martha and Jo, unlike the grandfather, not only exist (both their qualities and defects are pinpointed) but they also react to each other (with amusement, annoyance, wonder, etc.) as any living creature does. Which is evidenced by a few scenes involving Marthe Keller (sparkling) and Max Riemelt (pleasant) oozing charm, emotion and humor. Unfortunately, ideas gradually erase life and prevent "Amnesia" from being the great film it could have been. Not a bad one either, for even if it does not satisfy you fully, it deals with an interesting subject and is performed by a wonderful actress. Sufficient reason indeed to justify buying a ticket at your favorite theater.

Quiet Yet Absorbing Film

[larrys3 · 7/10 · 18 June 2017]

Set on the island of Ibiza, Spain, in 1990, this latest movie from the acclaimed Swiss director Barbet Schroeder is a quiet yet absorbing drama.

The two leads here Marthe Keller and Max Riemelt are both excellent in their roles of Martha and Jo respectively. Martha is an expatriate from Germany who has rented a house in Ibiza for years, overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. The much younger Jo, a native Berliner, has just moved in as Martha's neighbor, with aspirations of creating and playing his own techno music in the thriving local clubs.

Despite the difference in their ages, there is an immediate chemistry and comfort level between the two. Martha, however, having left Germany in 1936, during the time of Hitler and the Nazis, has been so revolted by the actions of her countrymen during the war that she has refused to speak the German language to this day, has not returned to her native country, or used any products manufactured by the Germans such as VW's.

On the other hand, Jo only has learned of the war and the Nazis through school and from filtered stories from his mother and grandfather. Thus he has the attitude of not dwelling in the past but moving forward, not only individually but for his native Germany as well. When Jo's mother and grandfather arrive in Ibiza from Berlin for a visit, some truths about the Nazi horrors will emerge, leading to changes for all concerned.

There are two concurrent themes being played out in the movie. The first being that of a possible May-December relationship between Martha and Jo. The second being how some Germans choose to have selective amnesia about what really occurred during WW2 and want to just move on and leave all that for the history books.

All in all, I found this to be a well acted, quiet, and cerebral film that I found myself engaged in from start to finish. It also has some wondrous cinematography of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding areas.

Weird and Slow

[dansview · 6/10 · 29 October 2017]

I don't get it. A beautiful German or Swiss woman moves to the Spanish island of Ibiza for 50 years, because she is ashamed of being German. But how does she pay her bills, and why is there no man in her life, or children? What has she been doing for 50 years? Just watering her plants, shopping for tomatoes, and brooding about her nationality? Well, Marthe Keller is certainly one of the most attractive 70 year olds you will see. She does a nice job of conveying pain, as do the other actors. But I'm sorry. You have to explain more.

The dialogue between her and the boy's mother is excellent. The mother points out the futility of a life lived in protest, when she was never guilty of anything to begin with. The self-righteousness of it.

But we need more of a back story. It took half the picture just to hear the back story that we did get. And that was not even close to enough.

Also, how could the German characters not recognize her German accent? Hee hee. They were so shocked to find out that she was German.

It's a thoughtful film, well acted, and well photographed. But I don't recommend it. Too slow and too cryptic.

Germans standing in the long shadows of WW II

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 2 April 2018]

"Amnesia" (2015 release from France/Switzerland; 96 min.) brings the story of Martha, a woman in her 60s or so, and Jo, a guy in his 20s. As the movie opens, we see Martha enjoying the sunset somewhere on an island. We then go to "10 years earlier - Spring, 1990", shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. Martha is speaking English to her German brother who is trying to convince her to sell something back in Germany. Later, Martha's new neighbor Jo stops by as he cuts his hand accidentally. Jo is a DJ from Berlin hoping to make it big on Ibiza. Martha doesn't disclose to him that she is German, and they converse in English. Martha also refuses to ride in his car (a VW). Along the way, Martha and Jo become good friends. At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you';; just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from director Barbet Schroeder (Single White Female; Reversal of Fortune)> Here he tackles a very different topic, namely the long shadows of WW II onto ordinary Germans. The movie is paced very slowly, and it takes quite a while to find the movie's definitive direction, but once we get there, there is no escaping it. The acting by both leads (Marthe Keller as Martha, and Max Riemelt as Jo) really carry the movie. The movie's photography is pure eye-candy, and in a way the film can be viewed as a 90 min. commercial for Ibiza. And let's not forget Schroeder. He has been making films since 1969 (when he directed "More", yes, the film for which Pink Floyd did the soundtrack). The guy is now in his 70s and he is still going very strong. And why not!

"Amnesia" premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. I don't think that it ever got a US theatrical release, but thank goodness for the folks at Film Movement, which eventually released it as part of its Movie of the Month Club releases. That is how I eventually got to see it. If you are in the mood for a foreign talk (no action!) about the long shadows of WW II, I encourage you to check this out.

Aloe Vera for the soul

[philip-davies31 · 3 March 2018]

The sublime Marthe Keller - as Martha - quietly invokes the conscience of Germany with a therapeutic balm, even as she draws the old agony from the lost youth of War. She applies aloe vera, stinging but healing her new young neighbour Jo's gashed hand. The national wound is drawn together at last, as a beautiful relationship mends the two sides of history with a platonic Spring and Autumn romance, even as East and West Germany are falling into each other's arms through the Berlin Wall.

Bruno Ganz gets to show us and Jo how his character is still possessed by Hitler's ghost, and how, as that demon is exorcised from Jo's dear grandad, all childhood illusions vanish. The old man's daughter, Jo's mother, is the defiant survivor of the ruins her father's generation left for her generation, with their defeat. However, scarred emotionally, she has inwardly shuddered for years at hearing her father obsessively tell over and over the one anecdote of the war whose unstable narrative has endlessly turned and twisted in the telling, as if to shake off the living nightmare of the truth.

The holiday visit to their son turns chilly when, in the presence of Martha's implacable revulsion from all things German, the post-war period of structural and economic restoration suddenly looks like a time of shattered spirits. This collapse is written in the daughter's brittle expression, and in the inconsolable despair of her father.

Jo's family leave for Germany, but, recoiling from the Hellish glimpse into the abyss of Hitler's Germany he for the first time sees in their souls, he remains on Martha's enchanted island of Ibiza, eventually putting these lingering horrors of Germany behind him as he builds a successful music career at the famous Ibizan dance club, 'Amnesia', and starts a family with a young girlfriend.

It is hinted that the young couple do eventually go to live in Germany, where probably their new baby has been born, and that at some time Martha also returns, though briefly, possibly to sell her late father's house, to be able at last to buy her home in Ibiza and avoid her impending eviction. Martha then grows old as their friend, reconciled at last to all the best of Germany, the love of which had been destroyed during the experiences of her own youth.

The final scene seems to suggest that the young family later returned to Martha's old house. Martha by this time may have become just the friendly spirit of the place, with the passage of time, as is perhaps evoked by a strange shot of her translucent image walking across the patio, with the aid of a stick, before the young family gathers round the presence - possibly imaginatively and lovingly recalled - of Martha's spirit, now at peace.

Recovery from amnesia was effected by facing the cleansing pain in the soul. Only what is recalled can be truly forgiven, since forgetting - as Martha finally learns - is the antithesis of forgiveness. In old age, she is reunited with her true identity, redeemed by pity for the tortured survivors of her own country's catastrophe. At last, perhaps all the German exiles were able to go home.

A tender, evocative and subtly rendered drama of troubled spirits being put to rest.

Most critics trampled all over this delicately delineated life as intrusively and uncomprehendingly as the couples who came to view Martha's home, when it was about to be sold from under her by a new landlord, and whose insensitive attempts, as prospective buyers, to invite themselves in to poke around, she rightly rebuffed as an unfeeling intrusion.

But at least these interlopers did appreciate the charm of the location. Most professional critics however are like brash tourists, who rush around with a lot of noise, noticing nothing, and complaining loudly. They should never be allowed into the secrets of such a wonderful film as this. They only ruin everything with their inane yet self-important chatter!

A visit to the enchanted island of this lovely, delicate and yet powerful drama is wasted on such typically pretentious boors. They invariably 'break a butterfly upon a wheel' in the course of their hostile inquisitions.

Techno-cello generational guilt trip

[sarahcapo · 6/10 · 27 June 2019]

An awkward travel between WW2 and Ibiza. A conflict of identities..music..yet a symbiosis of minds. Interesting. But far too German to be set in the south of Europe.

good acting... foreign film with a message

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 3 November 2017]

The best thing about Amnesia is the great acting by the two leads Marthe Keller and Max Riemelt. Very well done, she as Martha, he as Jo, the next door neighbor on Ibiza. They are both from Germany, and because of their age difference, they have different takes on the Nazis. Martha was just a young girl, and was so traumatized she had to leave and vowed never to speak the language again. Jo, much younger, knows some of the history, but has moved on, and doesn't have the shock, hatred and knowledge that Martha has. Things get more complicated when Jo's family shows up and of course when it comes out that they are all German, they only seem to be able to talk about WW II. Some (un-necessary) complications.... because Martha knows German but doesn't want to speak it, people keep feeling tricked by her, as she is eavesdropping on their conversations. Another reviewer here has already discussed the symbolism of "Club Amnesia" and the title of this film. Ibiza IS a nightclub village, after all. Jo is a DJ, trying to get his own mixes played. a few loose ends still hanging around, but the ending scene shows that everything worked out for the best. I'm glad we spent most of the film on the residential part of the island.... having been there, the downtown tourist area is way too crowded and it was great to see the part where people actually live. It was kind of fun to hear the mix of Spanish, English and deutsche. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, who used the same house in other films. AND... was actually owned by Schroeder's family. Good stuff. Showing on netflix.

Great potential transformed into a total wreck

[sequbu · 1/10 · 9 January 2018]

It had all the ingredients to be an outstanding movie. Great and deep story with a touching real human drama, good actors and a beautiful location.

Unfortunately none of that was able to save it from the bad scrip full of cheesie lines, the bad directing that made the movie look more like a slide show than a fluent motion picture and the resulting over and under acting which lead to making this movie completely unbelievable ... somehow it feels like this movie was never really finished or rushed to be done.

I've soon other works of Barber Schroeder and they are good, so I honestly don't know what happens here.

European Sensibility

[Moviegoer19 · 8/10 · 14 January 2018]

This film is a great example of what I think of as European sensibility: the characters, be they male or female, old or young, are not afraid or ashamed of being thoughtful, sensitive, and introspective. There is a gentleness that is often found in European films of this type, that is not in their American counterparts. There is a slowness as the camera lingers on scenes, such as the sea in the distance, or the sun setting, and on details, such as plants in the garden, or a candelabra lighting a room at night. The European sensibility, combined with the story being told here, of one woman's perspective of World War II remembering it from many years after it happened, create a poignant and beautiful story about living, growing older, and the relationship of people to each other and to the beauty offered by nature and the earth. I loved it.

Good idea, flawed editing and direction

[antonio-ooka-899-670398 · 7/10 · 20 January 2020]

If you've ever traveled to another country or locale and met an expatriate, you may wonder what led them to uproot themselves, leave friends and family, and move to a foreign culture.

Did they do it for love? Were they refugees? Or maybe fugitives? Perhaps it was for their career. The answers may be intriguing. But director Barbet Schroeder fails to capitalize on any intrigue.

Marthe Keller's character left Germany because of a love she had lost. Max Riemelt's Jo Gellert left Germany for the freer, laid back world of Ibiza's trance and techno scene. Yet, director Schroeder does not engineer powerful scenes where lost love or the excitement of the Euro trance scene really hits us.

Only at the very end when Ganz's grandfather reveals the secret of his wartime youth and Kirchof and Keller exchange accusations and the young Riemelt declares his attraction to the older Martha, do we see passions that were hidden now revealed.

But by then, it's too late, the irrelevent scenes with the DJ manager and the real estate agents have dulled our interest and emotional connection to the main characters.

Riemelt, Ganz, Kirchof and Keller are all capable actors but the scenes could have been better edited and directed.

Unsatisfying

[bigverybadtom · 5/10 · 3 December 2017]

In 1990, shortly after the reunification of East and West Germany, a young German deejay named Jo moves to live in Ibiza, hoping to find employment in the title nightclub there, along with his friends in the same business. He meets Martha, a mysterious elderly woman living alone in a house there, who turns out to have also be German, yet not willing to speak her native language or have any association with her native country. As a friendship between them develops, Martha finally admits her disdain for her former homeland came from seeing ugly secrets at the end of World War Two. Jo knows about them, but only through history classes and from recollections from his mother and grandfather.

His career goals becoming achieved, his grandfather and mother come to visit for a dinner...but unsurprisingly conflict develops between them and Martha, and between Jo and his grandfather as he finally reveals his past. What will come of all this? Unfortunately the character development of the first part of the movie feels wasted. Martha and Joe and his relatives come across not as people, but different sides of "how should Germans react to their Nazi past" question. Everything else is anticlimactic after that scene, and the final scene of the movie only feels tacked-on rather than a resolution. The scenery is beautiful and the performances work, but the movie is still an overall letdown.

Memory

[michaelbloom-1 · 7 October 2017]

We don't need a 500-word review to understand this film is very personal for Barbet Schroeder. It would have been a better movie, had the young man and older woman engaged in a sexual relationship in the first act. The idea of a summer love affair between these two Germans, from separate generations - would have had a much deeper gravity for the viewer, in my opinion.