Nolan Robertson

German 1411-20300

Notes from Dallas Goethe Institute’s September Film Discussion - Lola Rennt

One of the first and most forward-positioned themes of the film we discussed was the
contingency of major life events on seemingly random encounters with strangers. The
filmmaker presents life as an inexorable chain of cause-and-effect in which our private
desires and strivings play little part. A worldview is shown in which we are forever at the
mercy of chance. Lola’s scream represents our force of will against these forces of
determinism, and it first it is shown to be futile. This is challenged in the scene at the
casino, when Lola through force of will disrupts the randomness of the roulette wheel.

Another theme discussed is the positioning of time as antagonist. From the beginning,
we are shown that time is not on our side; we see the slow and menacing oscillations of
the pendulum of a grotesque clock in a void, and then we enter the clock. Manni’s thug
boss, the would-be villain, is slave to the cruel randomness of time like anyone else.