Four Minutes

by Chris Kraus

Best Film at the Shanghai International Film Festival - 3 Bavarian Film Awards - 2 German Film Awards (incl. Best picture)

For more than 60 years, pianist Traude Krüger has been teaching the piano to inmates at a women's prison. And yet, she never encountered anyone like her new pupil Jenny. Now a withdrawn, extremely violent convicted murderer, Jenny used to be a musical prodigy in her childhood. Traude senses that the girl could be capable of winning a renowned public music competition, which Jenny is allowed to participate in despite her inmate status. As they prepare for the big day of Jenny's piano performance, the two very contradictory characters clash with each other time and again. Traude's Prussian stiffness and Jenny's youthful energy turn their musical endeavors into duel of life and love. In a breathtaking finale, Jenny has only four minutes left to do something that no one, not even Traude, would have expected.

Genre / Language / Length
Drama / German / 112 minutes
Original title
Vier Minuten
directed by
Chris Kraus (FOUR MINUTES)
produced by
Produced by Kordes & Kordes Film in coproduction with Chris Kraus, SWR, BR ,ARTE and Journal Film Volkenborn with backing from MFG Baden-Württemberg, Bundesbeauftragter für Kultur und Medien, Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg and Filmförderungsanstalt FFA in association with Beta Cinema
Cast
  • Monica Bleibtreu
  • Hannah Herzsprung (FOUR MINUTES, THE READER)
  • Sven Pippig
  • Richy Müller
  • Jasmin Tabatabai

Press Quotes

"Marvelous piece of cinema!"
Times Online

"You'll feel inspired and moved by "Four Minutes"."
NYC Movie Guru

"Exquisite... Powerful!"
GO Magazine

"The film's ending is one of the most powerful I have seen... "Four Minutes" is simply not to be missed."
New York Observer

"Herzsprung makes the screen tremble".
Variety

"
Herzsprung's performance

compares to Hilary Swank's turn in the boxing ring for "Million Dollar Baby"."
FilmCritic.com

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