Amnesia (2017)

A different way of telling a story

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.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

"Amnesia" (2015 release from France/Switzerland; 96 min.) brings the story of Martha, a woman in her 60s or so, and Jo, a guy in his 20s. As the movie opens, we see Martha enjoying the sunset somewhere on an island. We then go to "10 years earlier - Spring, 1990", shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. Martha is speaking English to her German brother who is trying to convince her to sell something back in Germany. Later, Martha's new neighbor Jo stops by as he cuts his hand accidentally. Jo is a DJ from Berlin hoping to make it big on Ibiza. Martha doesn't disclose to him that she is German, and they converse in English. Martha also refuses to ride in his car (a VW). Along the way, Martha and Jo become good friends. At this point we're not even 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you';; just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from director Barbet Schroeder (Single White Female; Reversal of Fortune)> Here he tackles a very different topic, namely the long shadows of WW II onto ordinary Germans. The movie is paced very slowly, and it takes quite a while to find the movie's definitive direction, but once we get there, there is no escaping it. The acting by both leads (Marthe Keller as Martha, and Max Riemelt as Jo) really carry the movie. The movie's photography is pure eye-candy, and in a way the film can be viewed as a 90 min. commercial for Ibiza. And let's not forget Schroeder. He has been making films since 1969 (when he directed "More", yes, the film for which Pink Floyd did the soundtrack). The guy is now in his 70s and he is still going very strong. And why not!"Amnesia" premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. I don't think that it ever got a US theatrical release, but thank goodness for the folks at Film Movement, which eventually released it as part of its Movie of the Month Club releases. That is how I eventually got to see it. If you are in the mood for a foreign talk (no action!) about the long shadows of WW II, I encourage you to check this out.

This film is a great example of what I think of as European sensibility: the characters, be they male or female, old or young, are not afraid or ashamed of being thoughtful, sensitive, and introspective. There is a gentleness that is often found in European films of this type, that is not in their American counterparts. There is a slowness as the camera lingers on scenes, such as the sea in the distance, or the sun setting, and on details, such as plants in the garden, or a candelabra lighting a room at night. The European sensibility, combined with the story being told here, of one woman's perspective of World War II remembering it from many years after it happened, create a poignant and beautiful story about living, growing older, and the relationship of people to each other and to the beauty offered by nature and the earth. I loved it.

In 1990, shortly after the reunification of East and West Germany, a young German deejay named Jo moves to live in Ibiza, hoping to find employment in the title nightclub there, along with his friends in the same business. He meets Martha, a mysterious elderly woman living alone in a house there, who turns out to have also be German, yet not willing to speak her native language or have any association with her native country. As a friendship between them develops, Martha finally admits her disdain for her former homeland came from seeing ugly secrets at the end of World War Two. Jo knows about them, but only through history classes and from recollections from his mother and grandfather.His career goals becoming achieved, his grandfather and mother come to visit for a dinner...but unsurprisingly conflict develops between them and Martha, and between Jo and his grandfather as he finally reveals his past. What will come of all this? Unfortunately the character development of the first part of the movie feels wasted. Martha and Joe and his relatives come across not as people, but different sides of "how should Germans react to their Nazi past" question. Everything else is anticlimactic after that scene, and the final scene of the movie only feels tacked-on rather than a resolution. The scenery is beautiful and the performances work, but the movie is still an overall letdown.

The best thing about Amnesia is the great acting by the two leads Marthe Keller and Max Riemelt. Very well done, she as Martha, he as Jo, the next door neighbor on Ibiza. They are both from Germany, and because of their age difference, they have different takes on the Nazis. Martha was just a young girl, and was so traumatized she had to leave and vowed never to speak the language again. Jo, much younger, knows some of the history, but has moved on, and doesn't have the shock, hatred and knowledge that Martha has. Things get more complicated when Jo's family shows up and of course when it comes out that they are all German, they only seem to be able to talk about WW II. Some (un-necessary) complications.... because Martha knows German but doesn't want to speak it, people keep feeling tricked by her, as she is eavesdropping on their conversations. Another reviewer here has already discussed the symbolism of "Club Amnesia" and the title of this film. Ibiza IS a nightclub village, after all. Jo is a DJ, trying to get his own mixes played. a few loose ends still hanging around, but the ending scene shows that everything worked out for the best. I'm glad we spent most of the film on the residential part of the island.... having been there, the downtown tourist area is way too crowded and it was great to see the part where people actually live. It was kind of fun to hear the mix of Spanish, English and deutsche. Directed by Barbet Schroeder, who used the same house in other films. AND... was actually owned by Schroeder's family. Good stuff. Showing on netflix.