The Free Will

Colour, 35 mm
Germany, 2005, 163 min
Section: Horizons

Synopsis

Theo has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for years. His dread of women has now transformed itself into dangerous aggression – he attacks women, and before he gets his sexual gratification, he traumatises his victims even further by brutally assaulting them. The film opens with one such scene, so the viewer is given no choice in his opinion of Theo. As the story unfolds, however, our estimation of him gradually shifts in the opposite direction. Up close, this young man ceases to be a perverse brute, and more of a pitiable and desperate man, vainly trying to gather the strength of will to overcome his destructive instincts. 27-year-old Nettie genuinely wants to help him, she has also experienced being an outcast, but it turns out that the will invoked by everyone is simply not enough for the task. The film’s merits are its raw documentary style and the stunning performance of Jürgen Vogel, whose Theo surprisingly forces strong compassion from the audience. It was this performance which won him the Silver Bear at Berlin in 2006 for Artistic Contribution.

About the director

Matthias Glasner (b. 1965 in Hamburg) is a director, screenwriter, cameraman, editor, actor, musician and producer who, in these professions, has worked with a number of German filmmakers. In Germany he is also known as a musician in the band Homesweethome, and he applies his talent as a composer of music for TV and distribution films. In 1996 he founded Schwarzweiss Filmproduktion, together with actor Jürgen Vogel. He has directed for TV on numerous occasions, both independent film projects and individual parts of various TV series. He debuted with the film Die Mediocren (1995) about four people whose friendship is threatened by their suspicion of one of them. Fandango (2000) tells the story of the girl Shirley who, instead of her dream of a career in modelling, turns to crime instead. His latest film, The Free Will (2005), also deals with a disturbed and dispossessed individual.