Cannes

Cloud 9

Wolke 9 (Germany)

By DEREK ELLEY

A Rommel Film production, in association with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, Arte. (International sales: the Match Factory, Cologne.) Produced by Peter Rommel. Directed by Andreas Dresen.
 
With: Ursula Werner, Horst Rehberg, Horst Westphal, Steffi Kuehnert.
 

Two oldies prove that love and sex doesn’t stop in one’s dotage in “Cloud 9,” a small film with a big heart. Focused more on the results of a September-September love affair than the whys or wherefores, fifth feature by Andreas Dresen, the grungy poet of East German working-stiff life (“Night Shapes,” “Grill Point,” “Summer in Berlin”), is more fest or tube fare than theatrical, but should connect with upscale auds through its strong trio of lead performances.

In character matter, pic couldn’t be more different from Dresen’s previous outing, “Summer in Berlin,” about the tangled sexual and emotional lives of two young women in the capital. But there’s the same grounded romanticism on display in “Cloud 9” — and, although the story could be set anywhere, Dresen again chooses to locate his characters in average nabes of east Berlin.

Inge (Ursula Werner), a dumpy, plain-looking woman in her 60s who does clothing repairs from her home, suddenly decides to deliver a pair of pants personally to its owner. No sooner she’s inside the apartment of 70-something Karl (Horst Westphal) than they’re making passionate love in his lounge.

Inge, who quietly exits while Karl is in the bathroom, turns out to be married to fellow oldster Werner (Horst Rehberg), a rigorous, self-absorbed type whose hobby is listening to recordings of vintage steam trains. (Pic is shot through with a strain of humor that gently sends up his set ways.)

Married for 30 years, the couple happily babysit for the children of their daughter, Petra (Steffi Kuehnert), and are clearly devoted to each other, with sex still in the frame. Still, there are hints of family tensions: Werner has a senile father in a nursing home in Prenzlauer Berg, and he visits his son, in Ostsee, on his own.

So strong is the couple’s bond —and so strong her attraction to Karl — that Inge simply tells Werner one day about the new love of her life. But neither her husband nor her daughter can handle it in the way she expected.

Wisely, pic doesn’t spend any time leading up to or justifying the coup de foudre between Inge and Karl: crux of the story is her decision whether to go with a relationship that has revived her spirit or stay in one that is safe but predictable. Only the ending seems dramatically over-contrived compared with the downplayed material to that point.

Werner, who’s played in a couple of Dresen’s previous films, exactly captures the mix of simple joy and emotional naivety at the heart of her character, without overdoing either. As the slimly-sketched lover, Westphal communicates an honest devotion, while legit actor Rehberg, with the most completely drawn role of the three, brings real dramatic heft to Werner, whose stern exterior conceals considerable heartache.

Pic, which has no screenplay credit, was developed from a story outline during the actual production and thesps had no written dialogue. Overall tone lies somewhere between Mike Leigh and Ken Loach in perfs and look, with a modest tech package. Story’s summery setting helps to lighten the mood rather than be used as an excuse for visual romance.

Handful of sex scenes, and accompanying nudity, are frank but absolutely natural, with none of the grandstanding did-they-or-didn’t-they distractions that accompanied South Korean wrinklies sexathon “Too Young to Die,” the 2002 docudrama by Park Jin-pyo.

Camera (color), Michael Hammon; editor, Joerg Hauschild; art director, Susanne Hopf; costumes, Sabine Greunig; sound (Dolby Digital), Peter Schmidt, Ralf Krause. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard), May 17, 2008. Running time: 97 MIN.