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VENICE 2009 Horizons / Germany

Surviving by helping others in Tender Parasites

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Jakob (Robert Stadlober) and Manu (Maja Schöne) are truly Tender Parasites [+see also:
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in the German film by Christian Becker and Oliver Schwabe (who also co-directed Egoshooter, shown at Locarno in 2004), presented in the Horizons section at Venice 2009.

They are two young 25-year-olds who have put aside any political convictions – at least the usual sort seen in social centres, occupied houses, etc. – in their small but considerable struggle for survival as unemployed people in contemporary society.

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Encouraged and supported by the strength of their relationship, they live in a tent, with great dignity, in a forest on the edges of a German city and make ends meet, essentially, by helping old people at home or with their shopping. It isn’t charity work for they receive some money in return, but it is certainly socially useful when, for example, they go beyond their duties and, in an extremely sensitive and natural scene, have sex in front of an old, nostalgic lady who says she feels like a 40-year-old inside “even if her body doesn’t know it”.

However, when Jakob meets a family who have lost a son the same age as him, their apparently strong love affair starts to falter. Manu doesn’t understand why her boyfriend wants to spend more time with them than with her. But the appeal of family life seems to represent for Jakob something unknown, longed-for and anticipated, especially in his relationship with Martin (Sylvester Groth), his new and temporary father who immediately sees him as a substitute son.

In fact, this illusion of a reconstructed family constitutes the film’s central and most interesting theme. The film’s success also lies in its strong and original narrative structure and a directorial approach that, on more than one occasion, treats us to some unexpected formal surprises.

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(Translated from Italian)

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