SummaryBased on Marlen Haushofer’s eponymous feminist classic novel, The Wall is a highly original exploration of solitude and survival set in a spectacularly beautiful Austrian mountain landscape. Martina Gedeck (The Lives Of Others) brings a rare and vivid intensity to her role as the unnamed lead character who inexplicably finds herself cut off from... Read More
Directed By:Julian Pölsler
Written By:Marlen Haushofer, Julian Pölsler
The Wall
Metascore
Generally Favorable
67
User score
Universal Acclaim
8.5
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
56% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
44% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jul 4, 2013
88
The Wall is no endurance test; rather, it presents the facts of the case, adding an eerie low hum to the soundtrack whenever Gedeck's character edges near her outer limits.
Jul 5, 2013
80
Julian Roman Pölsler's bewitching debut manages to be at once a creepy sci-fi parable, a feminist Robinson Crusoe and a clear-eyed ode to the wonders of nature experienced in solitude. Walden pond with added wall.
May 31, 2013
67
The Wall seems to be telling the story about assimilation, about a woman who accepts her lot and attempts to persevere through the cruelest of conditions, an unspoken martyr. Perhaps it would carry much more power had she not been so chatty.
May 28, 2013
60
Though its blanketed voiceover narration can be too on-the-nose—it’s a metaphor, we get it—the film packs a psychic punch, thanks to Gedeck’s spectrally wearied face.
May 27, 2013
50
We may find out how Gedeck's character reacts to her isolation, but we're never privy to her actual feelings, largely because in a film about a sudden onset of solitude, Pölsler is far too afraid of silence.
User score
Universal Acclaim
92% Positive
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
8% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Nov 12, 2013
8
While browsing on imdb for interesting scifi flicks to watch I stumbled upon this Austrian science fiction film. A scifi concept movie I should say: there are no lasers or spaceships or any other hi-tech stuff to be seen. A woman (her name is never mentioned) goes on weekend in a mountain cabin with and elderly couple. The couple leaves to take a walk but never returns. Reason: the Wall or 'Die Wand', an energy forcefield which keeps everything from going out or comming in. This leaves this woman completely cut off from civilization, society and basically everything she knows and loved. Obviously this is what this film is about. It's not about explaining why this wall is there or who built it or for what reason. It's about the mental, emotional and ethical problems that arise when there is no more society to live, work and function in. This film was apparently based on a successful 1963 Austrian novel. The whole film is told via the voice-over of the woman (she never has any direct dialogue) and all the acting is delivered through expressions or actions. This was smart on the part of the filmmakers coz it works well and it feels a lot like a book. Although the film lasts only 103 mins it does have a slow pace, but like a book you have to take time to see it at the pace it's intended too. Recommended!
Production Company:
- Coop99 Filmproduktion
- Starhaus Filmproduktion
- Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
- ARTE
- Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
- Eurimages
- Land Oberosterreich - Kultur
- ORF Film/Fernseh-Abkommen
Release Date:May 31, 2013
Duration:1 h 48 m
Tagline:Inside everyone lies a truth only the wilderness can reveal.
Awards
Austrian Film Award, AT
• 5 Nominations
German Film Awards
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
Romy Gala, Austria
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
