In 1994 Die tödliche Maria was screened in Rotterdam, the directing début of the German film-critic Tom Tykwer, who was 28 at the time. His second film, Winterschläfer, a success last year at the festivals of Locarno and Thessaloniki, offers a better view of his film-loving erudition. Tykwer’s use of colour and Cinemascope is reminiscent of the melodramas of Douglas Sirk, but there are similarities in content with The Sweet Hereafter by Atom Egoyan: in Tykwer’s film a village community in the snow is put to the test by a car crash with a young victim. The way in which Tykwer plays with the knowledge of the acts and motives of the four most important characters is especially refined: they know less about each other than the viewer does. And there is also an old farmer, played by Josef Bierbichler (well known for his work for Herbert Achternbusch), whose basic conduct shines a clear light onto the diversions of the four youths.
