In 1990 East Germany, three friends discover a fortune in a currency that
is about to become obsolete.
Review by
Benjamin Poole
Directed by: Natja Brunckhorst
Starring: Sandra Hüller, Max Riemelt, Ronald Zehrfeld
Although set almost four decades ago in a country which no longer exists,
Natja Brunckhorst's second feature Two to One, which takes place in the German Democratic Republic following the fall
of the Berlin Wall and focuses on a communist family who discover a bunker
full of soon to be worthless money, invites questions which are poignantly
context dependent. Heretofore, the found-a-big-bag-of-money subgenre (Millions, No Country for Old Men and, the greatest,
A Simple Plan) is often predicated upon greed: what would you do with all of this
lovely, free cash? What freedoms would such a fateful bonus allow you?
(Recall the callow pals of Shallow Grave, immediately pledging their ill-gotten gains towards Sybaritism...).
Today, an unexpected windfall of the inauspicious would simply mean a
brief reprieve from the hand-to-mouth budgetary dread which characterises
domestic existence. Then, free cash would point towards a life of luxury,
but via today's unchecked inflation ready money might simply mean being
able to put the heating on for an entire evening or perhaps even a cheese sandwich.
As communists in the former GDR, for the family in
Two to One relative wealth is not only ideologically driven
but avant garde. We first meet Maren (Sandra Hüller) and Robert (Max Riemelt) being dismissed from their places of employment as their respective
companies make way for coming change. Following the redundancies, we cut
to the homestead in Halberstadt where the community gathers for a garden
picnic and happily discusses the massive adjustments which are about to
happen, including the eradication of East German marks. The community's
cheery acceptance of their circumstances characterises this insistently
lightweight story which, just like the finite currency the plot is
predicated upon, is fun enough in the moment but doesn't leave a lasting
impression.
The cosy community is suddenly joined by an Officer Dibble-like local cop,
arriving breathless after chasing a teen lad Ferris Bueller style through
the neighbourhood following some spray paint sloganeering on the part of
the radical youth. When the officer accuses Jannik (Anselm Haderer) of
destroying state property, Maren smiles back with "don't you mean the
people's property?"; the ensuing wordplay inviting the paradoxes and
absurdity of the regime. It's a cute scene but indicative of
Two to One's strange pacing. To wit, in the aforementioned chase scene we see
Jannik scale garden walls, run across garage rooftops and leap bins in an
extended sequence which is high on urban stunt work but low on tension
(the winsome indie-guitar soundtrack doesn't help, not in this scene or
throughout), all working towards a so-so punchline as Jannik is
immediately let off by the oafish polizist...
The curiously stake-free tone is further evident when Maren and Robert,
encouraged by pal Volker (Ronald Zehrfeld, Euro Brendan Fraser),
locate the abandoned cash. Volker, returning from the west because he
didn't feel at home there (another indicator of where Brunckhorst's heart
lies), has spotted trucks delivering something to the mines of the Harz
mountains. It turns out to be vast, mouldering piles of marks (some of
which in a denomination that was never officially used). The metaphor is
apposite, not only is the lucre equivalent to the now redundant ideologies
of the GDR, but also our middle-aged protagonists, who have been similarly
abandoned by the society they served. After all, this money is effectively
"the people's property"... A half-hearted heist scene follows
(re-trod later when greed becomes a factor) which, despite involving guns
and imposing tunnels, has the benign lack of tension of a Scooby-Doo
episode.
Nonetheless, Hüller is always watchable, and it is a nice change to see
her play for fun here. Similarly refreshing is the depiction of
Halberstadt as a colourful, summery community which contrasts the le Carré
nightmare of popular East German representation. Here the lighting,
domestic mise-en-scene and tone of Two to One is distinctly
televisual, with the vibrant look of an Australian soap opera. This mode
extends to the episodic schemes and plots which the community deploys in
attempt to launder the currency against the clock: the film's title refers
to the exchange rate between marks, which the gang attempt to exploit, as
well as them buying and selling consumer goods. All sounds a bit, well,
capitalist in the end, an irony not lost on the characters and the film's
ensuing denouement. Following the inevitable moral conclusions,
however, Two to One deploys a witty credits sting, before
documentary footage establishes the veracity of the narrative: bleak
sequences which serve to remind of the empty illusions of capitalism.
Two To One is in UK cinemas from
May 2nd.
