rinasayora

I love the book from Daniel Glattauer this movie is based on.

It was the first that I read or rather heard three times. This was also due to the excellent job of the readers of the audio book. In addition, I saw a play depicting the story on stage.

This being the third version I saw is also the third with excellent actors.

To me this story seems very difficult to realize as an actor as in most scenes you don't have a direct partner and the audience watches the protagonists while they're thinking. And it was never boring. I was always able to grasp the motivation and emotion.

Also, what was said already, camera, music and settings where very well chosen. I also like most of the ideas that were using the advantage of a film compared to a book to make the characters and their interactions more perceptible.

There were a few essentials points of the story though that I missed in that film.

First being Leos analysis of Emma being the start of it all. In the movie it was a short sentence. In the book, the reader understood Leos passion for language by his elaboration. I also like the idea of Emma calling herself Emmi instead of Leo giving her that name.

At least I would have expected that Emma got suspicious at the end when Bernhard called her so that he not just had a hunch but indeed spied on her. In the book her explanation made sense that he just discovered her other personality. In addition, Leo was quiet fast switching communication to Emma while he was expecting a reply from his girlfriend. The pain I believed Leo had in the book, where it took weeks for both to communicate again by coincidence, was over quiet fast apparently just by a "blablabla" and some insults.

Second, the process when they heard their voices for the first time was very elementary to me in the book but dropped in the film.

Third, their meeting in the Café missed the fun part with Emma describing all the poor men that have not allowed to be Leo. And more crucial her description who she excluded of the possibility of being Leo as for example the seem-to-be-handsome man with his beautiful arm candy.

I also missed there a central sentence of Leo, saying that he doesn't care which version of Emma is the real one as he has his own in mind.

Fourth, I missed Emmas trials to bring Leo together with one of her friends. That would have had more value than Leos sister trying to do so. And her persuasions that they both would meet so that Bernhard's urge to have it happenes is more understandable.

Bernhard seemed in general not as much in love with her as the book suggested.

All critics aside I feel a huge respect for the regisseur to bring such a story with all the feelings and suspense it evokes on screen as I find this really challenging.

What I find really impressing and moving for example is the "core" scene when Leo saves Emma from the North Wind. And I enjoyed how the relationship of Leo and his sister as well as between Emma and the kids was presented in the movie.

It didn't take me long time to think when I was told about "the fate of cysalion". It was clear to me: I want to see that. First, I watched the traile and even that short peace left me stunned. The pictures created a fantastic atmosphere, almost like it would take me to a new-hogwarts resembling world. It made me even more curious and I couldn't wait to see more. And I was right: The great film sequences in between kept the promise of the trailer and also the parts on the stage where of remarkable quality. To describe it with one word: It was magical - not only the story itself: a vivid fairytale about a long forgotten past in which lovely and lively characters take the audience on a journey through Cysalion. For me, magic is defined as: I can't believe what I see right in front of my eyes. The question "how is that even possible" was my company during the whole time I watched the spectacle.

How is a team, consisting of such a low number of members compared to the big studios, able to organize such a great project? How can voices be so accurate and touching, melodies so exhilarating, dances so overwhelming and a whole play so engaging? How can a story tell so much in such a short period of time? And how come, the group can answer all those questions and more as good as it is capable of raising them in the audience's minds? The only thing I can tell is what I experienced: Passion, pure fire and energy. A common believe in a huge thing that everyone enjoys to be a part of. And joy is what I felt as well, when I got the honor to watch the result. Even though I had an idea of the magical powers of some of their members in advance, the show exceeded all my expectations. I almost got the impression, that the team told two stories in parallel: One fictional and one which presented the team and all their work. It made me admire the actors and presented work behind the scene subtly but evidently. My imagination added pictures of the singers in the recording studio, the composer in front of his piano, the designers with pen and paper and working on their sewing machines, the visual effect wizard working on the raw material, the dancers practicing the choreography and last but not least the actors laughing throughout their journey, discovering the world they made up themselves, to the visible scenarios on the screen. In the beginning I felt the story was told with high speed because of the switches between movie and stage parts and the high amount of information given to the audience in the beginning. So I almost assumed it was some kind of summary of past events before the real story started but it turned out that I just had to get used to that element which was unknown to me up to that point and very interesting to experience. I also had to get used to the singers voices because at some points I had to think twice, which voice belongs to the character. In other cases I couldn't distinguish the singing from the speaking voice. I'm afraid I lost some parts of the stories because I got so distracted by all the visual attractions. But after all, the important elements were presented with enough comprehensibility so it was no problem to get the main ideas and put it into the frame it was meant to be in. I am glad I had the chance to watch that masterpiece and really hope for everyone who missed it that they will get it, too.