Another View 2012 / Die Wand / Austria, Germany 2012
A woman is held captive in a mountain cottage by an unknown power that completely isolates her. After realizing there is no way to fight against the invisible wall, she delves deeply into her own mind. This ominous, philosophical drama for one actress (Martina Gedeck) contemplates human nature as it dabbles in disquieting elements of horror.
In her diary, a woman records information about utterly banal work she has undertaken around her mountain home. But she does not do so out of boredom, nor with any belief that someone will read it. In fact, she doesn’t even want to write but she feels she must do so in order to keep from losing her mind. The woman’s sanity has been imperiled ever since she found herself cut off from the surrounding world by an invisible and impenetrable wall. The movie builds up a species of generic tension as it investigates the character and behavior of a person placed in absolute isolation. Despite the fact that the film to a certain extent employs the wall as a metaphor, a sense of horror permeates the film. Like von Trier in Antichrist, the director places his protagonist within a magical landscape, yet the picture goes beyond his work with the setting, coming across as a subconsciously realistic dream with a single (thus all the more disquieting) alien element. As a result, even entirely natural objects appear threatening although in reality they are not the source of danger.
108 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Julian Roman Pölsler
/ Screenplay Julian Roman Pölsler podle stejnojmenného románu / based on the novel of the same name by Marlen Haushofer
/ Dir. of Photography J. R. P. Altmann, Christian Berger, Markus Fraunholz, Martin Gschlacht, Bernhard Keller, Helmut Pirnat, Hans Selikovsky, Thomas Tröger, Richi Wagner
/ Music Bern Jungmair
/ Editor Bettina Mazakarini, Natalie Schwager, Thomas Kohler
/ Producer Rainer Kölmel, Antonin Svoboda, Martin Gschlacht, Wasiliki Bleser
/ Production Coop 99 Filmproduktion
/ Cast Martina Gedeck, Karl Heinz Hackl, Ulrike Beimpold
/ Contact The Match Factory
Julian Roman Pölsler (b. 1954, Sankt Lorenzen im Paltental, Austria) graduated in direction and production from the Vienna Film Academy, and in direction and dramaturgy from the Max Reinhardt Seminar school of drama. Since 1990 he has made TV movies and directed for the opera, winning a number of awards for his work. He also teaches at the Conservatory of the City of Vienna and at the Vienna University of Technology. The literary source for The Wall holds a special place in the director’s heart: "Perhaps the film was my attempt to finally let it go. But instead the effect has become even stronger,” he says about his adaptation of Marlen Haushofer’s novel.
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