Director: Doris Dorrie, Germany

After arriving at the Berlinale Film Festival, the first posters I noticed were for the film Glück or Bliss, which were plastered all over the place, including not just one or two but four flashing lights in bright pink which matched the pink pipe line travelling around Potsdamer Platz. All this pink reminded me of Dorrie’s last film, Cherry Blossoms, which showered the audience’s eyes with many shades of pink. It was a film I really liked and therefore had high expectations for this Bliss film. Although the two films are coming from different sources, the films carry the Doris Dorrie trademark which is a visual one. She layers her scenes with clear colors and patterns and a sensibility for nature despite the fact that her characters are set in big cities. These colors and patterns lead to a third dimension which makes ordinary life vanish and elevates her characters into mythical roles. Both films deal with emotion and the attempt to find that moment where either emotion or an understanding of it is obtained. For me, Cherry Blossoms was a great film which explored the problems with communication and how to access feelings especially when someone dies that you love. Her use of this plastic telephone shows to what extent the characters will go to find their way through this emotional process. The film Glück has its sensitive moments and the relationship between the young pair is priceless. The young woman still tries to hold on to her bliss despite her terrible history, as well as her future as a prostitute in order to survive; she fits well with the homeless boy who, with his many piercings, looks scary but is also searching for something. The third character, the lawyer, seems to me a total unnecessary element to the story. The ending felt like a cheap Hollywood happy ending; therefore predictable and lame. I would cut the film right about the time they are arrested to the time they are let out of jail. It is a shame since the film had truly some great moments. (SRS)