Der Krieger und die Kaiserin

Tom Tykwer’s the latest film is in some way thematically related to Lola rennt: the role that chance and fate have in our lives is closely linked to the right timing. Stylistically, the film is more reminiscent of the modest Winterschläfer. Beautifully composed images, aerial footage shot while diving and a choice and atmospheric palette of colours. Cinematographically, Der Krieger und die Kaiserin is just as adventurous as its predecessor. The entirely unexpected turns in the love story are visualised with breathtaking beauty, as we can expect from Tykwer.Sissi (played by Franka ‘Lola’ Potente) works as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. With her blank and dreamy look, you could easily think she was one of her own patients. Bodo has just come out of the army and doesn’t know what to do with his life. In parallel montage, we follow both their lives and it becomes clear that both of them are weighed down by burdens from the past. Then their paths cross, it looks inevitable: Sissi is run down by a truck and Bodo, fleeing the police, saves her life. A beautifully constructed scene that turns the whole story upside-down. Time seems to stop dead. When Sissi comes out of hospital, she goes looking for her saviour to find an answer to the question of whether their encounter was chance or fate.