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Head-On (Gegen die Wand) (2004)

Head-On (Gegen die Wand) (2004)

R

This raw, punk drama about a star-crossed love in modern Germany is as timely now as it was when it came out

The Very Best

9.3

Movie

Germany, Turkey
English, German, Turkish
Drama, Romance
2004
FATIH AKIN
Adam Bousdoukos, Aysel Iscan, Birol Ünel
117 min

What it's about

With the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.

The take

Winner of a Golden Bear and a slew of awards at the European Film Awards in the early noughties, Head-on is named after the suicide attempt of Cahit Tomruk (played by the late Birol Ünel), a Turkish-born German in his mid-40s. At the psychiatric clinic where he is treated, he meets the equally damaged Sibel Güner who is also of Turkish descent. (The first ever feature film of famous German actress Sibel Kekilli, who you might know from Game of Thrones.) Sibel persuades him to marry her in an attempt to break away from her traditional-minded parents.

If you think this plot summary was tough stuff, it gets even grimmer from there. Directed by famous German filmmaker Fatih Akın, the intensity with which Kekilli and Ünel perform the character's unhinged self-hatred is as raw as it gets. Head-on is a brutal, gritty, and heart-wrenching story about the violence of love and hedonism – and the struggle of third-generation Turkish immigrants in Germany.

Comments

Great film, great music, great actors!

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