The Dam

The Dam

1964 · 77 min · ★ 7.0 · Drama

In The Dam, although it is an experimental film, Kristl eschews the necessary earnestness in addressing his subject. The manufactured, unambiguously humorless profundity proffered up by other German contemporaries is absent here. Laughter is allowed. Kristl takes the dreadful liberty of tomfoolery, sending up himself, the characters, the action, "tragedy," and everything else, including the audience, that might be held sacred. Within the framework of the action, we recognize a love triangle, one of the simplest of dramatic configurations. Not only the basic idea, but also numerous particulars, both in subject and style, are reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski, which Kristl doubtless saw and holds in esteem. We meet two men: one is meant to embody the outsider, the artistic, intellectual, individualist. The other looks like the embodiment of the well-to-do man, the burgher, the functionary, the capitalist. The two battle for the favor of an indecisive and domineering girl.

Directed by Vlado Kristl · Written by Vlado Kristl

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Cast

Petra Nettelbeck Das gelähmte Mädchen
Vlado Kristl Der 'Clown'
Felix Potisk Der 'Spießer'
Erich Glöckler
Uwe Nettelbeck Telefonstimme (voice)

Make it a double feature

2h 37m together

The Dam

The Letter

Both from Vlado Kristl.

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Vlado Kristl rejected the word anarchy. Nor did he like the word utopia, nor the term experimental film. As a matter of fact, he didn't like any words if they weren't freed from the conventional ways of thinking. Following the shooting of "Kunst ist nur ausserhalb der Menschengesellschaft" he was only pleased when hardly anything he expressed in his poems performed, thrown and hurled against any hostile and alien environment by Carola Regnier was understood. - Markus Nechleba

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