Review of "The Edge of Heaven"

cristinejerome

                        Keep your dreams alive
The newest of beings needs to see. the vivid colors of the world, the tops of each floating cloud, the bottom of the wondrous seas and the vastness and depths of space.

Each child needs to dream of being the hero that saves of becoming the doctor that cures of winning the impossible race of leading a world to peace

We need to dream We need to see beyond what is afforded to us and reach towards the stars once more.

We need to believe that nothing in inattainable Nothing is impossible Nothing out of our reach.

We need to see the future as a blank canvas, ready for us to color with our own hopes and accomplaishments.

Be like the child. Soar above the clouds. Believe that you can fly. waits only for you. Believe you can change the future.

Work each day to keep your dreams alive. Never let them go. Never try to take others away.

In our dreams we can move mountains and reshape what lies ahead. Anything is possible with a dream.

I've had the good fortune to see this profoundly touching movie.  The great Schygulla's performance is something to behold.  It blows any of the best supporting actress nominees of last year away.  It is that strong.  The lesbian romance is the centerpiece and will stay with you.  That this did not receive a best foreign language nod (despite being eligible) is beyond me. 

It's also far more complex than Babel or Crash.  The multiple plotlines seem organic and unforced. 

After the lack of lesbian content to last year in film, it's nice to see some topnotch films with lesbian plotlines.  Also coming within the next few weeks is Water Lilies (which had been getting raves despite some critics being clueless - here's the clue - watch Floriane's eyes) and Remember The Daze (which has a wonderful closeted lesbian subplot that plays out beautifully). 

I'm glad that English-speaking audiences will be able to see this film. I love all of Fatih Akin's films, though this is the first one with a lesbian storyline.

This is the second part of his "Love, Death and Devil" trilogy (the first part was Head On) and I can't wait for the third part. :)

recommend this movie! I saw it last year in a indie movie theatre as well and I loved it. It's one those films that make you think about it a lot afterwards. A very moving and sad story, but it ends with a bit of hope and has it's own kind of "happy end".

I gotta second what Ira said. I don't agreee with "a little too cute with the parallels and missed connections" as well. I had the feeling that it could have happened that way and it was just a big case of bad luck for example. It looked real.

I've been having a look around for stuff on this film and can't wait to see it. A little bit gutted that it's only showing in one cinema in Scotland. Going to keep an eye out for it at our local indie place anyway :)

Thanks for the heads up, AE :)

I agree that it feels different than most of the "interconnectedness" movies in Hollywood. I didn't think the connections between the storylines were all that contrived. For instance, I thought that the only reason Lotte ended up in the bookstore was because it sold German books and she figured the owner must be German.

I thought the movie started off a little confusing, especially since I don't know anything about Turkish politics. But very soon the plot became comprehensible. And completely agree with you about Schygulla. That was a really good performance.

Thank you very much for the review, this time of a German film I have actually seen... Fatih Akin is the greatest current German director, I loved all of his films so far and this one especially. I also don't agree that the intertwining of the storylines was contrived, but apart from that your review captured the essence of the movie perfectly. This is not only worth seeing for its lesbian content (which is treated very matter-of-factly), but also as a fantastis piece of contemporary European cinema.

Oh, and can I just correct one minor error: the movie is mostly set in Bremen, not Hamburg (though the girls meet on the campus of my Hamburg university for example, which I loved). The two cities are very close to each other, many people commute.

I love this movie. I think that Fatih Akin is a fantastic director, maybe the best German one currently. In any case he is my favorite.

Like his last movie "Head on" (Gegen die Wand) "The Edge of Heaven" (Auf der anderen Seite) made me think about a lot of things. After the very powerful, passionate and violent start of his triology "Love, Death and Devil" which won the Berlin Film Festival in 2004 the second part is much calmer. It doesn't hit you head-on like the first one, but you still feel mesmerized by it and despite the deaths a bit light-hearted in the end.

In one interview I read the director said that he always pictured the love between two women at the center of this movie. I like the fact that this never was a big deal.

But I am not so sure about the English title. Though it sounds very nice I think it is less ambigous. On the other side can mean a lot more different things than The Edge of Heaven.

Also to clarify, the movie was Germany's official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film this year.

Well, I am looking forward to the third part. Let's see who or what or how the devil is.

--

It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life. And I'm feeling good.

I just wanted to smart ass offa little, and fill you guys in a little on the background, so you'll be able to enjoy the movie more thoroughly:-) The turkish are the biggest foreign populatuion in Germany, and have often, in the larger cities at least, formed closed communities. A lot of the turkish population, meanwhile, are second and third generation immigrants, who often struggle with traditional role values, and modern identity. Since a lot of the families emigrated from rural turkey multiple decades ago, society often is "frozen", and rules, and values are actually stronger than they  might be in actual turkey, today. Imagine how "gay" plays into the picture.. These are not just tiny minority groups in a  country full of lederhosen clad (pushing the cliché here, girls, I know, you're not that ignorant;-) blonde people.Berlin has the biggest turkish population outside of Istanbul.Germany faces the problem of lacking integration over the years. There are still murders for honor, forced marriages, women right issues, etc..in the middle of one of Europes most liberal countries..Look for these sorts of things in the movie..Still, there is a large part,who are educated and liberal..but still struggle with morality, tradition,end expectations.Having a lesbian turkish character on the movie is just worth so much..

Modern day turkey is still guilty of human rights atrocities.There have been,  for a long time, negotiations for its joining the European Union.It would be a Union,  which would, for many, finally relieve the burden of split citizenship,  and double identity, and moreover, be a huge economical and political profit.

However, the European Union has reserves of letting a country join, that kills and  tortures its countries minorities, and bashes opposition..However, the Union,doesn't do much about it either. Opposing movements are oftentimes also questionably violent.

This is the theme central to the movie. 

There is a scene, where Lotte's mother and Ayten talk in the kitchen, and revolutionary Ayten goes off on a poltical rant, and the mother is giving the whole "Things are not as bad as you

say they are....don't talk about it in my house" speech, and the whole time, she is sitting there, with a bowl of cherries,freeing them of their seeds..and her hands are covered in the red of their juice..as in blood..

brilliant.. 

"Have fun!"

"Don't have too much fun!!You'll end with one of those sexy transmission diseases!!" 

out of "Kick" 

I saw this movie at a German theatre last year, and it is by far one of the best movies I have seen in the last few years.

Yes, it has a lesbian storyline, but this film is about so much more than that.

I also thought the one girl was way too naive to invite the other girl to come live with her, but come one, did you look at her, she's hot.  

- - - - - - - - - -

-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

Who doesn't blog these days?

@ Doreen

hmm lets shed some light on that "smart ass" :D

You said --> "However, the European Union has reserves of letting a country join, that kills and  tortures its countries minorities, and bashes opposition.."

You know what? I LOVE "the deafening silence" it brings, when someone from Germany uses the words "kills, tortures, minorities, bashes opposition" in a row ;)

 Don't you think it's a contraversy that same old Germany we all know well from WW2 and from Neo Nazi movements recently, now a "prestigious member" of Europian Union? You're sooo right about the cherries & blood :D 

Exactly what Ayten(Nurgul) said.. "ya f*ck the europian union ya!" ahahah

PS. Writing these from istanbul "my house", so I suppose it won't hurt anyone's --feelings--

As I am a turkısh girl I want to thank afterellen to tell about this great movie  ı hope u all watch it dont miss it  I cant believe oscar didnt present it as a nominee   and cowgirl  I totally agree with you  :))

Thanks to this great review, I decided to rent the DVD via the local version of Netflix, and what can I say, it's the first German film that I enjoyed in a VERY long time - or, quite possibly, ever.

I just finished watching the DVD extras, and when Nurgül Yesilçay (Ayten) was asked about how she reckons this film is going to affect her image, she replied something along the lines of  "Then there is this lesbian aspect of the film, obviously. It doesn't frighten me as much as the potential reaction to the polictical aspect, though." Thought this might be noteworthy.

OT:

Somehow I feel like replying to Doreen, CowGirl (and  juliet_love5), but I guess this thread has died already... but I'd still like to take a stance, so here we go. I think that Doreen did manage to observe the absurdity of the metaphor and therefore got the message that Fatih Akin was trying to convey in this particular scene. However, I do agree that her seemingly harsh and over-generalized criticism of the political situation in Turkey was of poor taste.

At the same time, I think that your comments about "same old Germany" aren't exactly the pinnacle of informed objectivity, either. Since my own grandparents were still kids who barely made it through WWII, I refuse to take personal responsibility for the horrors of the Nazi regime. Do not get me wrong, I will always live with a sense of shame for being German, however I chose to do so from my own free will, and not because this is what people might expect me to do.

The recent  "Neo Nazi movements" are another exaggeration. Neo-Nazis can be found in pretty much any European country and have a vivid scene in the United States as well (just goes to prove my theory that jerks are everywhere, regardless of nationality) - but our government is actively doing something to dissolve their political base.

I won't even delve into your insinuation that Germany (as of April 2008) is not a prestigious member of the European Union - in fact I do think that this is quite insulting. I don't know where your resentments stem from, but if I was as wide-eyed and trusting as that blond chick in the film, I'd say come visit and see for yourself.


So for the record, you were the one who brought these things up. Maybe there was a deafening silence before, but that was probably because people were aware that Doreen's comment was out of line. Bringing up the Nazi past whenever a German person says something you don't agree with is what I consider a bit of a low blow. And somehow it's telling me that you really did not get some of the other messages of the film.

Nurgul Yesilcay is picked as one of scene stealers by Karen Durbin from New York Times, among some summer movies. Check it out (need free registration). :)

(Ms Durbin also mentioned Mattthew Goode's performance in Brideshead Revisited)

DVD Times posts a review of this DVD. This R2 UK DVD was released on June 9, 2009. No idea about R1 US release.

Another review of R2 UK release with more screenshots: DVD Beaver

Review of French release: DVDRAMA

Actually the story takes place in Istanbul and Bremen and Hamburg ... the whole father/son/prostitute story takes place in Bremen and Ayten is searching for her Mother there as well...I'd just like to have my hometown mentioned XD

and by the way great movie, fatih akin is one of the best german directors... 

The lesbian storyline in this movie is a perfect example of the injustice suffered by gays and lesbians around the world regarding marriage rights. If Lotte had been able to marry her girl, the story would have been far less interesting, for sure, but far less tragic as well. Those kind of situations (partners unable to get protection for their loved ones because they are in a same-sex relationship) are real, extremely painful for those involved, and generally totally disregarded in the gay marriage debate. An effective argument to oppose to the insufferable "why do gay people want to get married anyway ? it's soooo out-of-date" line : well, i just want my partner to be able to live in the same country... 

Thumbs up for Fatih Akin who's a brilliant director. The idea's in the movie without being hammered on of even verbally mentionned. Just brilliant.

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