Today’s scene that I love is from the 1981 German film, Christiane F. Directed by Uli Edel and based on a true story, Christiane F. is the story of a 13 year-old drug addict. It’s a powerful film, though perhaps not one to watch if you’re dealing with any sort of severe depression. David Bowie both composed the film’s soundtrack and appeared in the film himself.
Here, he performs Station to Station while Christiane F. watches. The scene perfectly captures not only Christiane F.’s fascination with Bowie but also Bowie’s charisma as a performer. The scene was shot an actual concert that David Bowie performed in Berlin, though the shots of Christiane F. and her friends watching were filmed separately.
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, we pay tribute to the year 1981 with….
4 Shots From 4 1981 Films
Christiane F. (1981, dir b Uli Edel, DP: Justus Pankau and Jürgen Jürges)
The Beyond (1981, dir by Lucio Fulci, DP; Sergio Salvati)
Escape From New York (1981, dir by John Carpenter, DP: Dean Cundey)
For today’s song of the day, we have my favorite David Bowie song, Heroes. Heroes was also featured in one of my favorite downbeat movies, 1981’s Christiane F.
I, I will be king And you, you will be queen Though nothing will drive them away We can beat them, just for one day We can be heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean And I, I’ll drink all the time ‘Cause we’re lovers, and that is a fact Yes we’re lovers, and that is that Though nothing will keep us together We could steal time just for one day We can be heroes for ever and ever What d’you say?
I, I wish you could swim Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim Though nothing, nothing will keep us together We can beat them, for ever and ever Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king And you, you will be queen Though nothing will drive them away We can be Heroes, just for one day We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember) Standing, by the wall (by the wall) And the guns, shot above our heads (over our heads) And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall) And the shame, was on the other side Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
We can be Heroes We can be Heroes We can be Heroes Just for one day We can be Heroes
We’re nothing, and nothing will help us Maybe we’re lying, then you better not stay But we could be safer, just for one day
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 76th birthday to German director, Uli Edel! It’s time for….
4 Shots from 4 Uli Edel Films
Christiane F. (1981, dir b Uli Edel, DP: Justus Pankau and Jürgen Jürges)
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Stefan Czapsky)
Confessions of a Sorority Girl (1994, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Jean de Segonzac)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Rainer Klausmann)
4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy 75th birthday to German director, Uli Edel! It’s time for….
4 Shots from 4 Uli Edel Films
Christiane F. (1981, dir b Uli Edel, DP: Justus Pankau and Jürgen Jürges)
Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Stefan Czapsky)
Body of Evidence (1993, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Douglas Milsome)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008, dir by Uli Edel, DP: Rainer Klausmann)
Today would have been David Bowie’s 75th birthday. Though it’s been six years since David Bowie passed, he remains an iconic cultural force. He is missed, as both a musician and an actor.
In honor of the man’s birthday and his legacy as a performer, today’s scene that I love is from the 1981 German film, Christiane F. Directed by Uli Edel and based on a true story, Christiane F. is the story of a 13 year-old drug addict. It’s a powerful film, though perhaps not one to watch if you’re dealing with any sort of severe depression. David Bowie both composed the film’s soundtrack and appeared in the film himself.
Here, he performs Station to Station while Christiane F. watches. The scene perfectly captures not only Christiane F.’s fascination with Bowie but also Bowie’s charisma as a performer. The scene was shot an actual concert that David Bowie performed in Berlin, though the shots of Christiane F. and her friends watching were filmed separately.
As for me, I’m just going to share two videos. One is the trailer for the German film, Christiane F.This trailer — which I consider one of the best trailers ever made — is scored to David Bowie’s Heroes. (Both Bowie and the song also play a large and important in the film itself.) Secondly, I want to share a scene that I love, this one from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and featuring Bowie’s Theme From Cat People reimagined as an anthem of the French Resistance.
Dedicated to: Andreas W. “Atze” (1960 – 77), Axel W. (1960 – 77), Babette D. “Babsi” (1963 – 77) and all others who didn’t have the luck and strength to survive.
— End credits dedication of Christiane F. (1981)
After watching Out of the Blue, be sure to watch the 1981 German film Christiane F. Like Out of the Blue, Christiane F. tells the story of what happens with adolescent aimlessness turns into self-destruction. Like Out of The Blue, Christiane F. centers on one alienated girl and, like Out of the Blue, it features a dark ending. Unlike Out of the Blue, Christiane F. is actually based on a true story and that makes it all the more disturbing.
Another difference between Out of the Blue and Christiane F. is that, while Out of the Blue‘s Ceebe was motivated by anger, 13 year-old Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) is mostly just bored. She lives in a drab apartment in Berlin, with her mother and her younger sister. Whenever we see Christiane walking among the concrete buildings that make up her neighborhood, we can see why she’s so frustrated with her life. She lives in a world that literally has no personality or hope for the future.
With nothing else to look forward to, Christiane becomes obsessed with going to Sound, a club that is advertised as the “most modern discotheque in Europe.” Wearing makeup and high heels and lying about her age, Christiane manages to get into Sound and discovers an entire new world. She meets the charismatic Detlef (Thomas Haustein) and a whole new group of friends. All of her new friends use drugs and, eager to fit in and hoping to impress Detlef, Christiane is soon taking part. She quickly goes from smoking pot to shooting heroin to working as a prostitute to finance her habit…
And you know what? Just from the description, Christiane F. sounds like a typical histrionic anti-drug film, a German version of Reefer Madness. Anti-drug films are always based on the idea that the worst possible thing that could happen will always happen and that’s certainly what happens in Christiane F. However, Christiane F. never sinks to the level of propaganda. There’s an authenticity to the film’s portrait of what it’s like to feel lost and alienated. It captures the gnawing despair of feeling as if the rest of the world knows something about happiness that you’ll never be able to understand.
Which is not to say that the film doesn’t work as an anti-drug film. I would never do heroin anyway but if I was so inclined, Christiane F. would change my mind. As Christiane and her friends become addicts, the film takes on an element of Cronenbergian body terror. When Christiane’s friends overdose, the camera lingers over their thin, scarred, and blue bodies. In perhaps the film’s most shocking scene, Christiane is attacked in a public restroom by a junkie who steals her heroin and then proceeds to shoot up in front of her, plunging the syringe into his neck.
Christiane F. is a powerful film, featuring an excellent lead performance from Natja Brunckhorst and a great soundtrack from David Bowie. Watch it with Out Of The Blue but make sure you’ve got a comedy ready to go afterward.
This week, I’m highlighting trailers from the year 1981. 1981 not only saw the release of Lucio Fulci’s twin classics The Beyond and The House By The Cemetary, it was also the year that my sister Melissa was born. (Happy birthday, Melissa Anne!)
You may notice that, despite citing them above, I did not include the trailer for either one of Fulci’s films in this post. I’m saving them for a future edition. Instead, let’s start with Alien Contamination and end with Christiane F. and see what waits in the middle.
I haven’t seen this film but I’ve read several favorable reviews of it. While the trailer isn’t nearly as graphic as some of the other trailers that I’ve featured in this series, I still like it. With the ominous narrator and all, it has a nice retro feel to it.
I recently ordered this Italian film off of Amazon but I have yet to sit down and watch it. The trailer, for me, is memorable just because it’s a chance to see both Harvey Keitel and Johnny Rotten (who were both quite the sexy beast back in 1981) occupying the same space.
Some people, I know, would disagree with me referring to Christiane F. as being an exploitation film. I’m sure that the film’s award-winning director — Uli Edel — would disagree with me. However, Europe’s art films were often sold as America’s grindhouse movies and, just from anecdotal evidence, that was often the case with Christiane F. Besides, I love this trailer if just for the music alone.
Through the Shattered Lens 