German actress Martina Gedeck found a niche acting in films about her native country’s turbulent past. In 2005, she was introduced to American audiences playing a Stasi agent’s obsession in director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Oscar-winning feature debut, The Lives of Others. She also appeared in The Baader Meinhof Complex, an acclaimed action drama about the young Soviet-era terrorist group, The Red Army Faction. She deviates from history in a trailer for her new film The Wall, a more subjective, character-driven story based on one of Austria’s classic works.
The big screen adaptation of author Marlen Haushofer’s novel tells the transformative story of a woman who vacations in the Austrian wilderness, only to become isolated from civilization by an impenetrable force. Directed by Julian Roman Pölsler, the Berlinale selection presents an interesting challenge for Gedeck, who shoulders most of the strange survival tale as its only human character. Besides her performance, the beautiful cinematography should also make the film worth checking out. See trailer and synopsis via iTunes below:
Synopsis:
Martina Gedeck, star of the Academy Award-winning film The Lives Of Others, brings a vivid intensity to her role as an unnamed woman who inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the beautiful Austrian mountainside where she is vacationing. Accompanied by her loyal dog Lynx, she becomes immersed in a world untouched by civilization and ruled by the laws of nature. As she grapples with her mysterious circumstances, she begins an inward journey of spiritual growth and transcendence. Based on Marlen Haushofer’s eponymous classic novel, The Wall is both a riveting tale of survival and a gorgeous meditation that raises profound questions about humanity and our relationship to the natural world.
The Wall begins its limited release on May 31st.