CHRISTIANE F

West Germany, 1982, 118 minutes, Colour.
Natja Burnkhorst, Thomas Haustein, David Bowie.
Directed by Uli Edel.

Christiane F. has been hailed as a serious look at the drug problems amongst youngsters in West Germany in the '80s. It is based on a series of articles appearing in the popular paper 'Stern'. The film is certainly grim in its presentation of Christiane's life, Berlin and housing, the streets, the railway stations - especially as centres for Pick-ups, prostitution and drugs.

The film, on the other hand, is long and repetitive. There is little explanation given for Christiane and her background. The film suggests many aspects but seems to rely on audiences supplying their own knowledge of social situations in the cities, in the family, at schools, amongst the peer group, in the cabarets. The background of the drug culture is given quite vividly - even alarmingly. There is also the atmosphere of contemporary culture, symbolised by David Bowie's songs and his concert. The seamy side of robberies, prostitution and drug deaths are to the fore.

For some the film may be shocking; for others it may highlight the social needs; for others it is on the level of popular cinema or very popular press and magazine stories which seem to sensationalise, or, at least, worry people without suggesting ways of coping with the problems.

1. The impact of the film? Themes? Treatment? The kind of response elicited? The intentions of the film? Serious? Exploitive? The background of the 'Stern' articles? At what level of study, communication? The authenticity of the film? The equivalent of newspaper reporting? Message? Mirror on contemporary German society?

2. The film as a product of West German film industry, 1980s? Colour photography, the atmosphere of Berlin: the cabarets and the darkness, the David Bowie concert - and Bowie as symbol of this sub-culture, the high rise apartments, the streets, the railway station? The atmosphere of a youth sub-culture? Drug and prostitution sub-culture?

3. The comparison with the day-to-day world: was enough of ordinary Berlin life presented? Or was it the limited picture of Berlin from Christiane’s point of view? The presentation of parents, family separations, relationships, teachers, health, the police? The ordinary wag of life of Berlin? The ordinary world as perceived by the group? Did the film indicate reasons for the alienation of Christiane and her peers from the ordinary world?

4. The atmosphere of Berlin? Values, morals, aims, peer group pressure, enjoyment, escapism, responsibility? The disco world? Belonging? Sounds, music, lyrics? Pressures? Comparisons? The importance of drugs - taking them, the feelings, addiction? Sex? Communication, age? What did the problems mean, what did they stand for? The symbolism of the kids on the roof looking down on the police?

5. The structure of the film: the cumulation of episodes, the repetitiveness of the style, the overall effect of this glimpse of the sub-culture youngsters trapped in this world, the ugliness, the depression?

6. Christiane as character: her age, relationship with her mother, the break-up of her mother's marriage, the live-in friend and his gift of the Bowie record? The style of the apartment? Her voice-over comments on boredom school? Recreation, the cabaret, her goals? Friends and their pressure? Her observing of people? People interesting her? The
discovery of drugs and her decision to try them? The foiled attempts? Her attraction towards Dieter - his attraction, his rejection? His warning against drugs but his own addictions? The other friends? Her trying the drugs? Repetition? Her being caught? Her lies to her mother? Her young friends and their addictions - deaths? Her going to Dieter’s apartment, the growing friendship, the sexual liaison? The lies and the repercussions? Her tiredness - especially in school? The pressure for the need for drugs and the whole focus of life?

7. The change in her behaviour, personality? The drug habits, feelings? Compassion for the other girls? Dieter and his story? Her moving into prostitution to raise the money - and the focus on the degrading situations?

8. The scenes of drug-taking, shooting up, the poor quality drugs, the syringes, the blood? The clinical detail? The long sequence of Dieter and Christiane's 'cold turkey' experience, vomiting, spasm etc.? Their immediate relapse?

9. The deaths and the newspaper headings? The police and their inability to cope? The need for money , prostitution? The frequent scenes at the railway station and the boys lined up for their clientele? The range of clientele? The descriptions of sexual behaviour?

10. Dieter and his patron, his lying about the sexual relationship, his looking to the patron for protection, Christiane's going to the home and discovering the two and their sexual activity? Her disillusionment?

11. The life of dead-ends in such society? The aftermath with Christiane's rehabilitation? How well-founded were the hopes for such rehabilitation?

12. The quality of perception of experience, human characters? The social problems? The relevance of the film to countries outside East Germany?