Plots(1)
Simone and Frank, both 40, have only just settled in when they receive the worst news possible: Frank has cancer and things look very bad for him. This situation not only changes the practical running of the family, but also the relationships between the family members and their view of what dying really means. The director begins as a good doctor, delicately and openly taking his patient through the treatment and through his illness as it develops, which he observes in shrewd and precise detail. Here, as in his other films, Dresen manages to find a balance between the civil and dramatic aspects of the story. Similarly, he succeeds in gently introducing a sense of optimism into grave situations, which ultimately prevails in the film without trivialising the unfolding tragedy. Thanks to the director’s remarkable talent for giving a true picture of the most ordinary of situations, we follow the heroes on a journey they never dreamed they would have to take. The dialogues are based on improvisation which was preceded by extensive research carried out among advocates of hospices and people whose loved ones died after suffering serious illness. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Cast
Steffi Kühnert
East Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
The Same Sky (2017) (series)
The White Ribbon (2009)
Milan Peschel
East Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
The Captain (2017)
Lessons of a Dream (2011)
Mika Seidel
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Lore (2012)
Tatort (1970) (series)
Ursula Werner
German Empire
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Willenbrock (2005)
Two Lives (2012)
Inka Friedrich
West Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Willenbrock (2005)
A Year in Winter (2008)
Otto Mellies
German Empire
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) (series)
Sein letztes Rennen (2013)
Bernhard Schütz
West Germany
Best movies:
The Billion Dollar Code (2021) (series)
Stopped on Track (2011)
Sense8 (2015) (series)
Marie Rosa Tietjen
West Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Cracks in the Shell (2011)
54 Hours (2018) (series)
Helmut Zerlett
West Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
7 Zwerge - Männer allein im Wald (2004)
Knut Elstermann
East Germany
Best movies:
Stopped on Track (2011)
Grill Point (2002)
Evet, I Do! (2008)