The Elementary Particles (2006)

Touches You

Sadly Over-hyped

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

"In the end, there's only death." If you do not bother to read books, this is a naked centerfold of the author's fantasies and shortcomings. Michel Houellebecq's novel shine in new elements. Unusually gifted screenwriter and director, this Oskar Roehler. His innovated remake of "Jud Süss" is well worth two hours of your life. In this film you find an inflamed brilliant ensemble. Try to match this gang. Martina, Nina & Franka is almost too god to be true. And you get all the essential keys to understanding the persona of Houellebecq. Plus an overdose of sadness and grief.

German screenwriter, journalist and director Oskar Roehler's third feature film which he wrote, is an adaptation of a novel from 1998 called "Atomised" by French author and filmmaker Michael Houellebecq. It premiered In competition at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival in 2006, was shot on locations in Germany and is a German production which was produced by German filmmaker and producer Bernd Eichinger (1949-2011) and producer Oliver Berben. It tells the story about a troubled literature teacher named Bruno Klement who lives with his wife and their infant in Berlin and a driven scientist named Michael Klement who is resigning as the head of a biotechnical institute. Subtly and precisely directed by German filmmaker Oskar Roehler, this finely tuned fictional tale which is narrated by and from the two protagonist's viewpoints, draws an intriguing portrayal of two half-brothers and their conflicting relationships with women. While notable for it's naturalistic and various milieu depictions, sterling production design by production designer Ingrid Henn, cinematography by cinematographer Karl-Friedrich Koschncik, costume design by costume designer Esther Walz and use of music, this character-driven and narrative-driven story depicts two interrelated studies of character and contains a great score by German composer Martin Todsharow.This romantic, humorous and psychological drama from the late 2000s which examines the notion of artificial reproduction of organisms without sexual contact and the lives of two men in their late 30s, is impelled and reinforced by it's fragmented narrative structure, substantial character development, atmospheric flashback scenes and the remarkable acting performances by German actors Moritz Bleibtreu, Christian Ulmen and German actresses Martina Gedeck, Franka Potente and Nina Hoss. A mysterious, literary, sensual and somewhat scientific narrative feature which gained, among other awards, the Silver Bear for Best Actor Moritz Bleibtreu at the 56th Berlin Film Festival in 2006.

Other reviews suggested this film was based on a French novel. If so, I have not read it and have no intention to. I watched this film strictly as a stand-alone entity, not knowing much about its background and its director, Oskar Roehler. I watched it out of a liking for international cinema, hoping I would land a good one. And I did.One can argue this is a serious film, on a popular subject: love and its impact on life. Apart from some minor 'imperfections', e.g. the physical resemblance of the brothers played by different actors portraying them in youth and adulthood, with one done right and the other out of whack, I find the film was very well done and it commanded my attention throughout all its 112 minutes.Perhaps it strikes a chord with intellectuals - one brother is a renowned physicist and the other an academic. It is a film that engages you and makes you think and try to get inside the minds of the protagonists, played as two half-brothers with entirely opposite life styles. One more likable than the other.I enjoyed this film greatly, and regarded it one of the few, memorable German films I have seen in recent years.

(excuse me for the lousy use of the English language) A bit in a twist about this one... My experience throughout the movie was a mix of astonishment and confusion. The actors are absolutely brilliant (especially Moritz Bleibtreu and Martina Gedeck) but the story line is a bit of a mess. Must confess that I haven't read the book though, but as an "outsider" i feel as if the director wants to put as much book material as possible into a predefined certain amount of celluloid and thereby losing most of the unprepared audience. It just doesn't work. There are too many loose ends that are never tied together (SPOILER WARNING) e.g. the student that Bruno hits on, Bruno's Oedipus complex, Bruno's father who is introduced and the quickly abandoned again, Bruno's wife and daughter who completely disappears from the plot, Annabelle's ex (who is mentioned to be a serial killer). All together there are "chapters" in the movie but they are not connected well enough - it all just falls short of something great. The main theme (in my eyes) that Bruno himself pursues sexual satisfaction leading him beyond the line of sanity and his brother Michael as the ultra-virgin pursuing a life of fidelity in the name of science suffers quite a bit on this behalf.The use of humor is (to say the least) debatable - and even as confusing as the story line! You never know when to cry or laugh, for example when Bruno masturbates to his own mother and then kills a kitten - too twisted and sad to be really funny - too twisted not to be. This is a major inconsistency. When the nature of a scene is to feel pity for a character, the episode is ridiculed by a somewhat lame (and not very) funny oddity, totally killing the intimacy. This happens several times.All in all the movie is worth seeing but it is definitely the work of the actors who carry the load.