The Princess And The Warrior

Tom Tykwer is a writer/director, who uses his imagination. He is German and his last film, Run Lola Run, was a huge international success. He returns now, with the same lead actress, Franka Potente, in an entirely different kind of story.

She plays Sissi, who works as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital. You have the feeling that she has been there forever, even as a patient. Her shy, quiet way with people appears mentally challenged, which is deceptive. She may seem simple, but has a heart of gold, and her lack of assertiveness only emphasises a desire for love in one who feels unworthy.

Bodo (Benno Furmann) was a soldier. Now he lives in a tiny house on a hill with his brother (Joachim Krol). He is abrasive and non-communicative and cannot hold down a job because of a tendency to weep in public. He becomes a thief.

Tykwer is fascinated by coincidence and destiny. Sissi and Bodo meet. He saves her life in the most bizarre situation. She cannot forget it and searches for him. He wants nothing to do with her, preferring to remain miserable, remembering the death of his young wife and planning a bank robbery with his brother.

The skeleton of a plot that weaves and winds through a maze of emotion cannot begin to reflect Tykwer's vision. As a filmmaker, he has unique qualities. Logic, and what is known as reality, has no currency here. Oddity becomes a friend. The inmates of the hospital are more focused than the sane. Sissi's desire to be with the man who came to her as she lay dying seems entirely right. Bodo's guilt drives him to despair, blinds him from her goodness, until the moment comes when she saves him and the circle is complete.

The film has none of Lola's fantastic energy. It is rich in sweetness and sadness, a fable for the hopeful.