Screened as part of NZIFF 2012

The Wall 2012

Die Wand

Directed by Julian Roman Pölsler

A woman is mysteriously separated from the rest of humanity by an invisible wall. Stunning alpine landscapes are juxtaposed with existential terror in this literate psychological thriller, based on German novel Die Wand.

Austria / Germany In German with English subtitles
108 minutes 35mm / CinemaScope

Producers

Rainer Kölmel
,
Antonin Svoboda
,
Martin Gschlacht
,
Wasliki Bleser

Screenplay

Julian Roman Pösler. Based on the novel by Marlen Haushofer

Photography

J.R.P. Altmann
,
Christian Berger
,
Markus Fraunholz
,
Martin Gschlacht
,
Bernhard Keller
,
Helmut Pirnat
,
Hans Selikovsky
,
Thomas Tröger
,
Richi Wagner

Editors

Bettina Mazakarini
,
Natalie Schwager
,
Thomas Kohler

With

Martina Gedeck (the woman)
,
Karl Heinz Hackl (Hugo)
,
Ulrike Beimpold (Luise)
,
Wolfgang Maria Bauer (the man)
,
Hans-Michael Rehberg
,
Julia Gschnitzer (cottagers)

Festivals

Berlin 2012

Elsewhere

Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others) compels as a woman suddenly and mysteriously separated from the rest of humanity by an invisible wall. Isolated, apart from the company of several animals with whom intense relationships form, she must rely on her own strength of will to stay alive. Her bleak loneliness is contrasted with the stunning Austrian alpine landscape she inhabits. Adapted from the popular 60s German novel Die Wand by Marlen Haushofer, it’s philosophical sci-fi, a Kafka-esque meditation on the struggle of human existence. This is a gritty survival story with a feminist flavour, fantastical yet rendered with an uncanny realism that leaves you contemplating your own response to such conditions. — JR

“Riveting and emotionally involving from start to finish… a highrisk, high-intelligence drama that will be intensely rewarding for viewers willing to scale its rarefied but heady heights.” — Jonathan Romney, Screendaily