LIEBESTRAUM

US, 1991, 109 minutes, Colour.
Kevin Anderson, Bill Pullman, Pamela Gidley, Kim Novak, Catherine Hicks, Taina Elg.
Directed by Mike Figgis.

Liebestraum was written and directed by Englishman, Mike Figgis, who also composed the musical score. Figgis made great impact with his first two thrillers, Stormy Monday (set in Newcastle, England) and Internal Affairs, set in the San Francisco police force. Here Figgis remains in America, but a dark and shadowy America, a town where a special building, historic and iron-framed, is being demolished. It uncovers secrets as well as covers them.

Kevin Anderson (Orphans, Sleeping With The Enemy, Hoffa) is the architectural writer who comes to the town to study the building and to see his dying mother. Kim Novak gives a characteristic performance as the dying woman. He encounters an old school friend, played reliably by Bill Pullman, and becomes entangled with his wife, Pamela Gidley. There are secrets in the town which are uncovered - although the dreamlike style of the film makes us wonder whether so much of this occurs in the mind of the dying woman. There is love, betrayal, uncovering of secrets and mystery. The Liszt piece is played throughout the film - and the whole film is a film noir, exploring meanings and shadows of life.

1.The quality of the film noir? The good reception of the film by critics? Difficult for the box office? A world of the United States - sinister and shadowy?

2.The title, Liszt's piece, the dream of life, the mood?

3.The atmosphere of the film, the town, the historic building, the interiors, the demolition? The hospital? The brothel? The present and the past?

4.The work of Mike Figgis, writing and directing, his imagination? The use of colours and darkness? The building and its collapse? The photography of the building? The hospital rooms and corridors? The brothel? The smells associated with sexuality, the motivation and trigger for violence? Dreams and reality? Mystery and solution?

5.Themes of children, orphans, adoption, identity of parents? Adulteries, murder? Discovery of the truth?

6.Nick as an ordinary citizen yet victim? His unknown father (and the later photos revealing his father)? His being raised by foster parents, his relationship with his mother, coming to her dying? The encounter with Paul and the memories of college? Saving from the collapsing building? The encounter with Jane? The photo sessions? His work, examining the building? His sharing with Paul - infidelities and betrayal? The bar, the police chief and his eccentricity, taking him to the brothel? The experience at the brothel - and the style in which the prostitutes were filmed, their pursuit of Nick? The contrast with the hospital (the same actresses playing the nurses)? His mother? The sexual liaisons with Jane, betraying Paul? His mother's death and his absence? Finding his identity? The liaison with Jane, lying sleeping and discovered by the grieving Paul?

7.Paul as the decent worker, college background, friendship with Nick? Demolishing the building and its secrets? Friendship, the drink and the talk? Jane's birthday celebration? His leaving town, warning Nick? His return, the betrayal? His final turning away and weeping?

8.Jane and her relationship with Paul, the birthday party, her skill at photos? Her search for identity? The irony of the possibility of her parents and the building? The encounters with Nick, the fascination, the sexual encounters? Going to the hospital? Mrs Ralston? The final betrayal with Nick?

9.Mrs Anderssen, Kim Novak's screen presence? In the hospital room, her age, dying? Relationship with her son? Memories - and, perhaps, dreams? Her imagination - the nurses and the brothel? The discussion about sexuality and smell? The trigger of violence? Nick and the sexual smell - and her death? The revelation of the truth, the past, vicious and violent, relationships, secrets?

10.The past, the memories, clear and unclear, the dreams, childhood? Past adulteries, violence and shootings? Mrs Ralston and her injuries and in the hospital?

11.The brothel sequence (completely cut in the US for release)? The vampire style of the prostitutes? Sexual pleasure and perversion?

12.Themes of nightmare, pain, betrayal, love and identity?