Aimée & Jaguar (1999)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Max Färberböck

Writers:

Max Färberböck (writer)
Rona Munro (writer)

Release Date:

11 February 1999 (Germany)

Genre:

Romance | Drama | War

Tagline:

A Love Larger Than Death

Plot:

Berlin 1943/44 ("The Battle of Berlin"). Felice, an intelligent and courageous Jewish woman who lives under a false name...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Gestapo | Jewish | Unfaithful Wife | Bombing

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Maria Schrader	...	Felice Schragenheim (Jaguar)
Juliane Köhler	...	Lilly Wust (Aimée)
Johanna Wokalek	...	Ilse
Heike Makatsch	...	Klärchen
Elisabeth Degen	...	Lotte
Detlev Buck	...	Günther Wust
Inge Keller	...	Lilly Wust (1997)
Kyra Mladeck	...	Ilse (1997)
Sarah Camp	...	Frau Kappler
Klaus Manchen	...	Herr Kappler
Margit Bendokat	...	Frau Jäger
Jochen Stern	...	Werner Lause
Peter Weck	...	Chefredakteur Keller
Lia Dultzkaya	...	Hulda
Dani Levy	...	Fritz Borchert

Also Known As:

Aimee & Jaguar (USA)
Aimee and Jaguar (Canada: English title)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Denmark:11 | Germany:12 (bw) | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:18 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Everest Studio, Cologne, North Rhine - Westphalia, Germany

Company:

Senator Film Produktion

Trivia:

Germany's entry to the Academy Awards, in the category of Best Foreign Language Film (1999).

Quotes:

Felice: If we aren't allowed to go to the theatre, let's enjoy Mrs. Wust.

Movie Connections:

Version of Love Story: Berlin 1942 (1997)

Soundtrack:

Rumba Hindou

Even the blackest storms bring forth flowers.

This is a beautiful story and a haunting film, set in crumbling Berlin near the end of Germany's second run at world domination. Felice is a young stenographer hiding her Jewish identity and passing stealthily through bombed-out Berlin. She runs with a pack of party-girls, lesbians all, who butterfly their nights away living for the moment in the face of destruction, persecution, and death.

Lilly is a German housewife with four children and a husband on the Russian front. She is introduced, however, as a mistress to a Nazi officer, and the viewer sees immediately that Lilly is simply lost...dutifully serving out her role(s) to the men in her life, yet stricken with a suspicion that love has escaped her.

Then she meets Felice...

The affair transforms both women. Lilly finds love and discovers who she really is, while Felice finds a reason to stop running.

It's easy to forget that bravery in wartime is not reserved solely fo combat soldiers. In these two women, we see courage, hope, and beauty emerge from ruin and desperation. As one of the minor characters points out late in the film, love should be appreciated wherever it can take root---especially when times and situations seem impossibly chaotic.

This director offers an underlying gentleness that makes the movie all the more effective. The performances are passionate and inspired. War news via radio broadcasts is masterfully woven in to frame the film while giving the viewer a sense that time is running out in Berlin. One knock on the film might be that there are too few sympathetic male characters. But, given the setting, maybe that was to be expected.