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Dreileben: Beats Being Dead

2011

Dreileben: Etwas Besseres als den Tod

Johannes is a loner who wants a better job. And then he meets Ana. Ana is attractive and even though her job is even less prestigious than Johannes's, he falls for her. And then she quits her job to be with him (and be dependent on him) and suddenly things become much more serious. She has fallen for him. But does he still love her? Did he ever? Enter Sarah. Sarah is the daughter of Johannes's boss. He and she have a past. Will Sarah and what she represents be his future, and Ana just a memory, something he'd like to erase?

Jacob Matschenz Luna Mijović Vijessna Ferkic Rainer Bock Konstantin Frolov Florian Bartholomäi Stefan Kurt Kirsten Block Deniz Petzold Evelyn Gundlach Kristof Gerega Thomas Fränzel Eberhard Kirchberg Jeanette Hain Frank Kessler

Alternative Title

Dreileben: Pior que Estar Morto

Genre

Drama

Theatrical

13 Apr 2011

Germany

Germany

13 Apr 2011

Theatrical

88 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Lawrence Garcia ★★★★

First (magnificent) shot and that dissonant opening note are supremely destabilizing, and the feeling of off-kilter dread only intensifies as the film goes on, in part because Petzold parcels out the narrative information so judiciously that it's not initially—and maybe never entirely—clear what's going on, or how anyone is related. In the first scene, which makes superb use of the security cam footage, there's an implied sense of history between Johannes, Sara and the head doctor, but for a time, it's not evident what their relationship actually entails, so the possibilities percolate (or fester) in the mind, with each subsequent interaction—the convenience store encounter; the lakeside swim—only deepening the mystery. Violence holds sway, and death lurks around every corner, hanging…
Review by saturnino ★★★★★ 3

Etwas besseres als den Tod lembra muito a economia de certos produtos da época áurea de Hollywood. Sem o peso da componente histórica de seus outros filmes, torna-se evidente a objetividade de Petzold enquanto cineasta. A narrativa se encontra sempre em movimento, acossada, indo de um ponto a outro, nunca parando seu andamento para contemplar o mundo. Sem interesse em pausas para respirar, o drama nasce da ação e sem a ação nada é. O movimento e o espaço são ritmados musicalmente. A tensão é encadeada em tensão sem jamais deixá-la morrer. Petzold, forçosamente limitado ao essencial da encenação, vai como que ao encontro da mise-en-scêne num estado elementar: apenas regendo carne contra carne, carne contra espaço, carne contra tempo.…
Review by Diogo Serafim ★★★½

Both of them sing when alone, both of them look almost the same, but only one dresses and talks properly and only one of them have the same future ahead of her as you. No class reconciliation, for the ambitions and opportunities of each party don't ever coincide, alongside a Bourdiex-like cultural incompatibility, more in a matter of taste and appearances that leads to a sense of abandonment, as one of them can neither fit nor belong in the other's social circle, heavily due to a structural hindrance but even more due to the other party's discomfort in taking the leap. Sex and affection and sociability and work, different realms of existence, the physical is reliable, what's inside isn't always compatible. So cruel and objective yet so telling.
Review by Enfant du Siècle ★★★½

Christian Petzold explores the complex and unstable relationship that arises by chance between a medical student and a hotel chambermaid in a lonely village where a sex offender lurks. Dreileben - Etwas Besseres als den Tod is simple and sober, a love story with elements of suspense and an atmosphere of constant tension. The story focuses on Johannes, his unimportant everyday life, and the way his feelings for Anna, a troubled and volatile girl, emerge and evolve. In the background the film seems to explore the existential void, apathy and indifference of this young man while making a pertinent observation of the apparently irreconcilable differences between social classes.
Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★½ 2

62/100
[Reviewed from TIFF 2011]
Strongly suspect I'd like this even more were it not part of a trilogy, as the aspect of it that haunts me is sorely diminished by the mere existence of two other films involving the same killer (regardless of their quality, though it doesn't help that they both kinda suck). When I close my eyes and try to pretend it exists in a vacuum, it seems remarkably bold, employing the fantastic as a cruel metaphor for the depressingly mundane; even the subtitle plays like a slap in the face. Might need to give it a solo second look down the road.
Review by Jaime Rebanal 🇵🇸 ★★★★

35mm print
Christian Petzold really knows how to end a movie. This movie feels like it plays as a romantic melodrama with the elements of a thriller hovering on over it, but all of Petzold's strongest instincts are present in here from beginning to end. But I also like how this whole movie encapsulates everything that he's loved telling stories about for the screen, whether they be on the big screen or on television - although many elements present here seem to come and go.
Of course, with this being the first of a three-part thematically interconnected miniseries, which Christian Petzold didn't direct the others, there's part of me wondering how this will play out with all those ties being put into place. But I think what Petzold does so strongly is capturing a very apocalyptic mood all throughout, lingering on to the point that it catches you by its ending.
Review by Zoltán Huber ★★★½

Anno ez kimaradt, mert figyelmetlen voltam és nem olvastam utána, nem sima tévékrimi, hanem abból induló antológiasorozatról van szó, ahol csak a helyszín és egyetlen motívum közös, úgyhogy elég kellemesen meglepődtem, hogy telivér Petzold ez is, aminek valahogy pont jól áll, hogy a szokásos kiüresedett tájak/házak helyett egy hegyvidéki kórházban és környékén játszódik, lepukkant nővérszállóval meg ösvényekkel, illetve van benne az előre adott gyilkosos szál is (ez fűzi össze a három részt), amit Petzold kábé vörös herringnek használ, hogy aztán a végén jól zavarba hozzon vele. Érdekes az is, mennyire nem következik ebből a filmből az évvel későbbi Barbara és a továbbiak, közben meg a helyszínek hangulati átfedésén túl itt is bejön a kiszolgáltatott, de büszke nő (bicaj nincs, sétálnak),…
Review by Matthew Sibley ★★★★

The centerpiece scene with Cry Me a River playing is one of Petzold's most incandescent moments. And beyond that, there's a genuine sense of passion/longing competing with a static nature that feels all the stronger by being foregrounded amidst the other goings-on.
Review by the_narrator ★★★★½

Another astoundingly beautiful, low-key Petzold romantic melodrama, pumped up here with tense thriller music that's at first a fun counterbalance to the typically dry tone and dispatches from modernist German police-state Hell, until it becomes entirely appropriate for the tragedy this story becomes. Like Lucy with the football, Petzold keeps getting me so invested in his doomed romances that I keep hoping it's all gonna work out for them in this one, and of course it doesn't. Here he achieves Saylesian excellence in seeing the wrenching effect of class on relationships and in crushing needledrops, and also frequently makes me fearful for the main characters' safety.
Review by gui ★★★★★

What impresses me the most in Petzold's style is how straightforward he treats his themes and techniques. While another director could go on a pompous series of gimmicks and annoyances, he just goes for the perfect synthesis of his message.
The way this movie portraits class struggle and the nuances of privilege is so simple yet it never misses a spot. Is not a condescending work either; uncomplicated and didactic without giving itself too much.
It's a minimalist take on the political tensions surrounding classes, which is exemplified when the woman representing the oppressive side serves as the sexual and emotional healing for the main character and the other woman, the rich and noble, is more of a prize to…
Review by antchassi 1

Petzold knows how to end a film better than most
Review by jrhovind ★★★½

Maybe the purest example of Petzold’s art of evasiveness and indirection. The elements of a slasher film recalibrated as background mood, as an almost folktale-like conceit – naïve young innocents threatened by mysteries and dangers lurking in a dense wood – gets transformed into a strange, surprising exercise in opaque subjectivity. “It wasn’t real. Forget it.” Amour fou erupting with a punch to the nose, as Johannes quickly seems to shed all his aspirational, middle-class conventions in falling for a Bosnian hotel maid. “Cry Me a River” becomes the leitmotif, first as a joke, then as a genuinely sincere torch song, and finally as a cruel punchline. For all the malevolence simmering in those woods, however, the real mysteries turn…

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Dreileben: Beats Being Dead

Dreileben: Etwas Besseres als den Tod

Synopsis

Cast

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Studios

Country

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Alternative Title

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Releases by Date

Theatrical

13 Apr 2011

Releases by Country

Germany

13 Apr 2011

Popular reviews

Where to watch

Dreileben: Beats Being Dead

Dreileben: Etwas Besseres als den Tod

Synopsis

Cast

Director Director

Writers Writers

Cinematography Cinematography

Studios

Country

Language

Alternative Title

Genre

Theatrical

13 Apr 2011

Germany

13 Apr 2011

Popular reviews

Related Films

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Writers

Cinematography