Winterschläfer (1997)

Director:

Tom Tykwer

Writers:

Anne-Françoise Pyszora (novel)
Anne-Françoise Pyszora (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

30 October 1997 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Ein Liebesthriller.

Plot:

Young blonde translator Rebecca lives with her boyfriend ski instructor Marco in a mountain villa owned by her friend...

Plot Keywords:

Short Term Memory Loss | Mountain | Friend | Coma | Memory

Awards:

8 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Ulrich Matthes	...	Rene
Heino Ferch	...	Marco
Floriane Daniel	...	Rebecca
Marie-Lou Sellem	...	Laura
Josef Bierbichler	...	Theo
Agathe Taffertshofer	...	Theos Frau Edith
Sophia Dirscherl	...	Theos Tochter Marita (as Sofia Dirscherl)
Laura Tonke	...	Nina
Sebastian Schipper	...	Otto
Werner Schnitzer	...	Chefarzt
Saskia Vester	...	Schwester Anna
Robert Meyer	...	Keibl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Simon Donatz	...	Peter (uncredited)
René Schönenberger	...	Gerd (uncredited)
Harry Täschner	...	Kuhn (uncredited)

Directed by
Tom Tykwer

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Anne-Françoise Pyszora		novel "Expense of Spirit"
Anne-Françoise Pyszora		screenplay
Tom Tykwer		writer

Produced by
Stefan Arndt	....	producer
Maria Köpf	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Reinhold Heil
Johnny Klimek
Tom Tykwer

Cinematography by
Frank Griebe

Film Editing by
Katja Dringenberg

Casting by
An Dorthe Braker

Production Design by
Alexander Manasse

Art Direction by
Uli Hanisch

Costume Design by
Aphrodite Kondos

Production Management
Milanka Comfort	....	production manager
Torsten Künstler	....	set production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
François Doge	....	second unit director
Sebastian Fahr-Brix	....	assistant director (as Sebastian Fahr)

Art Department
Gregor Hees	....	painter
Andrea Kessler	....	on-set propmaster
John Rawsthorn	....	painter

Sound Department
Dirk Jacob	....	sound editor
Matthias Lempert	....	sound
Arno Wilms	....	sound
Antje Zynga	....	sound editor
Gunther Kortwich	....	sound equipment provider (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Nastuh Abootalebi	....	digital artist
Manfred Büttner	....	visual effects production manager
George Maihöfer	....	digital artist
Andreas Schellenberg	....	visual effects
Thomas Tannenberger	....	visual effects supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Bernd Spauke	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Elena Wegner	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Antje Zynga	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Stefan Broedner	....	music consultant

Production Companies

• X-Filme Creative Pool
• Palladio Film
• Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
• Arte
• Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)

Distributors

• Bavaria Film International (1997) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Prokino Filmverleih (1997) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Filmcoopi Zürich (1999) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• City Screen (1999) (UK) (theatrical)
• WinStar Cinema (2000) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Cannes Home Vídeo (Brazil) (video)
• Civite Films (Spain)
• Les Acacias (France)
• Mongrel Media (Canada)

Special Effects

• Das Werk

Also Known As:

Winter Sleepers (USA)
Wintersleepers (Europe: English title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Spain:13 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

X-Filme Creative Pool

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Marco is falling, the parachute on his back is clearly visible.

Movie Connections:

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

Soundtrack:

For Eight Cellos

Well made, unfortunately

An absolutely stylish movie! If style is what counts for you, go watch it and start praising Tom Tykwer for his wonderful way of making movies. Tykwer has a respectable sense of colours and he is a master of conveying moods and a notion of drama to his audience. The reason why I do not like his movies is that there is nothing about them which gives them the right to be stylishly dramatic. The stories are simple and not particularly interesting but Tykwer makes us believe they are something special. The moment you realize this is not true marks a rather big disappointment.

Winterschläfer has some greatly filmed scenes and pictures, particularly when it comes to combining the beautiful white snow with the very full colours of the characters' cars or clothes. But it's a real pity that these scenes and pictures appear in such a third-rate, meaningless film. The background bears no relation to the magnitude of the pictures. It's the same as with Tykwer's next movie, the world-wide blockbuster Run Lola Run.

Admittedly, Tykwer has chosen good actors for this film. Some of them, like Josef Bierbichler, struggle with the terrible screenplay but others, especially Marie-Lou Sellem interprete it in a convincing and fascinating way.