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3 stars
15
Praise for Cloud 9 is likely to focus on its matter-of-fact depiction of senior sauciness, with leads Werner, Rehberg, and Westphal bravely shedding inhibitions along with their clothes.
But, there is more to this well-observed drama than three or four explicit moments of old-age coitus. Female director Dresen's mature movie refuses to moralise, but poses intriguing questions in its story of elderly infidelity.
Should sixty-something Inge seek happiness with sprightly late seventies Karl, or be content to spend her final years with the solemn, reliable Werner? Is it too late to start again, or should old age be grabbed as a final chance to taste life fruits? Or even live by the adage, won't he doesn't know won't hurt him?
Offering no easy answers, Dresen and her three co-writers allow for no easy answers, but arguably succumb to melodramatics with a late in the day tragedy.
Until this point, Cloud 9 is an unusual, compelling, and superbly played movie that proves life's temptations and foibles don't wither with age.
Rob Daniel
4:30PM, Jul 02, 2009
1 of 3If there's anything worse than and old fool, it's an old fool in love. Inge (Ursula Werner) is an East Berlin seamstress in her sixties who has been married to Werner (Horst Rehberg) for more than thirty years. However, she has a secret - a 76-year-old lover called Karl (Horst Westphal). A frank and unembarrassed look at love in the twilight years.
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