As in 2016 in "Wild", Nicolette Krebitz tells of an unusual relationship in "A E I O U - The Fast Alphabet of Love". With Sophie Rois and Milan Herms in the leading roles, a love drama in the style of the Nouvelle Vague has emerged.
When you think of Nicolette Krebitz, you think of her numerous TV and cinema productions with her as an actress, including the 1997 film "Bandits", for which Katja von Garnier, in addition to Krebitz, also starred Jasmin Tabatabai, Katja Riemann and Jutta Hoffmann as the girl who escaped from prison band staged.
More than 20 years ago, however, Nicolette Krebitz changed sides for the first time. In 2001 she directed the plot-free feature film "Jeans", in 2007 "The Heart is a Dark Forest" was released. Six years ago she caused a stir with "Wild". The offbeat drama tells the story of a colorless secretary who becomes entangled in an obsessive relationship with a wolf. And Krebitz' new film "A E I O U - The Fast Alphabet of Love" is dedicated to a relationship that initially seems unusual - albeit far less unusual than that of a young woman and a predator.
In mid-February, the love drama premiered at the Berlinale, where it was screened alongside 17 other films in competition, but ended up empty-handed. But that's no reason not to see "A E I O U" in the cinema.
Anna (Sophie Rois) was once a successful actress, but today she is only cast for roles in radio plays. And so she already owes her landlord and friend Michel (Udo Kier) a few months' rent. When her doctor asks her to give language lessons to a student, Anna is forced to agree. She doesn't back down even when she realizes the teenager outside her door is a thief. The night before, he had snatched her handbag from her on the street in front of the legendary Paris Bar.
So instead of slamming the door in Adrian's (Milan Herms) face, she takes care of his speech impediment. An intense relationship soon develops between the couple, who are not only unequal because of their age difference. Their love eventually leads the two out of Berlin and to the Côte d'Azur, where they keep their heads above water with small and large thefts.
Relationships in which the woman is significantly older than the man are still often a source of media excitement in the 21st century. The 25-year age difference between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte was discussed, as well as the 16 years that separate Heidi Klum and her husband Tom Kaulitz.
Anyone who has a problem with partnerships of this kind should probably avoid "A E I O U", because there are around forty years between the mature Anna and the tall Adrian. You lose sight of it and out of mind as the film progresses.
Instead, the couple's playful love increasingly comes into focus, as two lonely souls, each unusual in their own way, have found each other here. Nicolette Krebitz leaves it open how long this love can last. Instead, she tells the almost surreal romance with a lot of sensitivity. She never ridicules her characters or lets their feelings for each other become kitsch.
Instead, Nicolette Krebitz - together with cameraman Reinhold Vorschneider - embeds the plot in a visual homage to the Nouvelle Vague and enriches the whole thing with Anna's narrator's voice as a poetic voiceover. The west of Berlin rarely seemed so romantic and doesn't have to hide behind the other film locations on the Côte d'Azur. In addition, a lot oscillates between playful and bizarre, for example when budgerigars suddenly flutter through the room or Anna and Adrian are on a fleet-footed pickpocketing foray through the alleys of southern France.
It is noticeable from the start and cannot be overlooked that Nicolette Krebitz has a soft spot for French cinema from the 1960s and its characters. She makes no secret of that either. And so "A E I O U - The Fast Alphabet of Love" is a modern and casual tribute to that era of film in which men like Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut or Claude Chabrol told stories about women and love.
"A E I O U - The Fast Alphabet of Love" will be in German cinemas from June 16th.
