'Die Vierhändige' ('Four Hands' in English) is an author movie written and directed by German filmmaker Oliver Kienle. It is a film that surprised me (for the better) by the quality and expressiveness of the image and by the intensity of the actors' acting. It demands attention to watch, and there is a danger that it will lose some of its audience in the middle, especially those who are used to the logical, deterministic and linear plots of German detective films. The authors emphasized the psychological side and the trauma suffered by the characters. The degree of ambiguity of the story allows different interpretations according to the personal perspective of each of the viewers. It's not an easy movie to watch, but it's interesting and well-made enough to be worth watching. Those who will - more or less easily - overcome the difficult moments of the story will be rewarded.
It's one of those movies of which you can say very little about the story so as not to spoil the enjoyment and interest of future viewers. Two sisters witness in their early childhood the brutal murder of their parents. The experience traumatizes them and binds them to each other for the rest of their lives. When the assassins are released - after serving their 20-year sentences - their destinies are again dramatically influenced.
Oliver Kienle's script proposes an interesting and original combination. The film has only a handful ofc significant characters (the sisters, a nurse who befriends one of them, the criminals who appear in only one scene each) and yet the entire action takes place amidst the crowded cities and institutions of contemporary Germany. A house also appears, oddly placed in the landscape, suggesting the strange things that happen in it. The cinematography by Yoshi Heimrath is designed in a post-Hitchcockian style, combining chamber drama with hallucinatory outdoor scenes, in hospitals, in discotheques, in concert halls. There is a lot of darkness in this film, the colors when they appear are also blurred. The disorientation of the heroes is also transmitted to the audience along with a feeling of insecurity about the understanding of what we see on the screen. Frida-Lovisa Hamann and Friederike Becht create memorable roles as the two sisters. Christoph Letkowski should provide a balancing act in the role of the character who should but mostly fails to represent a point of emotional stability. Music plays an important role in the film, and the soundtrack created by Heiko Maile completed with fragments of classical music performed on the piano contributes to the atmosphere of suspense and uncertainty. 'Die Vierhändige' is a good psychological thriller, one of the well-made films in this genre that I have seen lately.
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