You don’t often find a baby grand piano in a women’s prison but Traude Kruger (Monica Bleibtreu) is on a mission. During WWII she began teaching music at the German women’s prison while working as a nurse in the hospital ward. Although this was sixty years ago, she still feels that music can calm at least some of the incarcerated savage beasts. Her latest student is the extremely talented but aggressively self-destructive Jenny (Hannah Herzsprung) who has been convicted of a violent murder.
Miss Kreuger’s intent is to enter Jenny in a competition that will culminate in a performance at the Berlin Opera House, but there are many obstacles to overcome. Playing the piano is certainly not a problem, as the young woman can do this even when her hands are cuffed behind her back (as Bleibtreu actually does one of the most moving scenes in the film). The greatest challenges to overcome are the demons that have a stranglehold on her, and both women are forced to struggle with the past demons that resurface as they spend more and more time together.
Schubert’s music stirs the emotions as this powerful film exposes some of the violence that women from disparate generations have endured and survived. The title is German for ‘four minutes’ and Herzsprung, who plays all her own music in the film, gives a breathtaking performance for this duration. As police surround the stage at the Berlin Opera House, it is reminiscent of that other great performance in Mephisto, another German film where the hero’s power of self-belief outshines everything else.
Vier Minuten is rated MA and directed by Chris Kraus.
