3

I was very excited and thankful to this film's director, Tom Tykwer, for surprising me again. Like the characters in his movie, as a film buff I was also getting bored with the choices available both in commercial and arthouse cinemas around, until I saw "3" (a.k.a. "Drei", three in German). I left the cinema in a state of grace after seeing this well acted, beautifully written, bold, inquisitive, provocative film, as it deals with assumptions on people's sexuality and the labels we like to give ourselves, our need to categorize behaviour and sexual identity and it does it in a very thorough, honest way. It's a brave film, not afraid to go deep into its subject and to expose its characters, but whilst doing it, it's not at the same time some intelectual, cold, moral lesson. Much the opposite, if anything, it's against hypocritical false morality or simply standard dramas on how badly adultery can end as seen in examples like "Fatal Attraction", 'Unfaithful" and "Indecent Proposal", all of which scary and simplistic morality tales on how one shouldn't even contemplate a look at sex outside marriage, let alone involving homosexuality.
Speaking of which, this film also takes a fresh look on sexual drives and sees the adventure with the same sex not as a life altering, sexual identity changing experience, after which you are officially gay, but as a natural curiosity satisfaction, one that is handled without feelings of guilt or macho crisis; dealt with naturality. Sex here is seen as a tool for pleasure, not as something which says who you are, but simply what you can do.
But the film's subject matter is not delivered in a heavy, preachy way; it's shot and edited in a fun, exciting way, so the whole thought brainstorm is great to look at and listen to, by the way music is used on the film, also a collaboration created between Tom Tykwer and 3 other musicians. They did a great job and used David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in the soundtrack to great effect.
Great, exilarating movie. Bravo, Mr. Tom Tykwer, and thank you!

Writer/director Tom Twyker (Run Lola Run, Perfume, Heaven, The International. Paris, je t'aime) is proving to be one of the most fearless and creative talents in film today. He knows how to create strange stories that take us by surprise, present them with excellent actors, selects and composes musical scores that are as perfect as any being created, introduces just enough philosophy and scientific investigation into timely topics to challenge our brains, and tops it off with inventive photography - superimposing split screens that enhance not only the progress of the story but also allow the presentation of brief glimpses of `dangerous' ideas that stirs the cauldron to boiling.

3 is a fascinating tale. Simon (Sebastian Schipper) is an artistic architect who works with sculptors to bring their art into being. He is in a longterm relationship with Hanna (Sophie Rois) who is a television journalist cum scientist who is widely popular in their hometown of Berlin. Simon and Hanna are in their forties and deeply in love. Simon is informed that his mother has advanced pancreatic carcinoma and when his mother attempts suicide with an overdose and fails, she is brain dead, supported on machines. Simon stays at her bedside while Hanna continues her line of investigation about new stem cell theories, attending lectures by the handsome Adam (Devid Striesow) - a married man with children who leads a separate life of clandestine but shortlived gay affairs. Simon's mother dies and Simon is diagnosed with testicular carcinoma, undergoes an orchiectomy and begins chemotherapy, losing his hair in the process. All of this he shares with Hanna: the two decide they probably should marry and Hanna wants children while Simon thinks world timing is poor for starting a family (he is also aware of the fact that his operation and chemotherapy may represent the end of his sexuality and fertility).

Though devoted to Simon, Hanna is attracted to Adam and finds ways to be near him. Soon they are in a physical love affair. Simon recovers his disease by swimming in a beautiful Berlin gym where he quite incidentally meets Adam, shares his operation with the stranger in the locker room, and Adam proceeds to demonstrate that Simon is indeed not impotent! Simon has new feelings aroused, and he and Adam begin a love affair. Hanna and Simon get married but still each of them has feelings for Adam. When Hanna discovers she is pregnant the story spins to its conclusion and the triptych of the title is established.

This film is subtle but frank, explores sexuality in an open and honest way exploring themes relevant to our time: the biological and the ethical side of human life, the determinist way of viewing our sexuality and gender, the ways in which we define our selves in a time with shifting mores, the chance of love in a society with few if any boundaries. Love affairs as demonstrated between Hanna and Simon, Hanna and Adam, and Simon and Adam are treated equally and sensitively.

The three primary actors are excellent as is the entire cast. The cinematography and film manipulation by Frank Griebe (with Twyker) and the musical score Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Gabriel Isaac Mounsey, and Tom Tykwer (with a little help from Debussy and others!) is splendid. This is a first class film and deserves the attention of a very wide audience. It is likely to be one of those films that grows in stature with the passage of time. Grady Harp, March 19

I hardly know where to start in saying how great this movie is, because it is so wonderful in so many ways.

For one, it has single-handedly redeemed the entire concept of German comedy for me. I must have watched at least a dozen German comedies and been so thoroughly bewildered by them all that I came to the conclusion that for me the words "German" and "funny" simply could not coexist in the same sentence unless the word "not" was in there too. This fantastic movie has blown that idea out of the water forever.

But this movie is far more than subtly but very funny; it is also a story of three likable, ordinary people who wander almost by accident into an unconventional but very satisfying (for them and for the audience) arrangement in which everybody wins and nobody loses.

The remaining mystery for me is why people feel obliged to judge other people's behavior when that behavior is not hurting anyone, and when the people they are judging are not even real people but characters in a movie. What tiny, empty lives they must lead. God help the people those viewers actually know in real life; I'd hate to be deluded into thinking they were my friends.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 4 reviews  4.8 out of 5 stars