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Run Lola Run

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Run Lola Run (original German title Lola rennt, which translates to Lola Runs or Lola is Running) is a 1998 film by German screenwriter and director Tom Tykwer, starring Franka Potente as Lola.

Run Lola Run
File:Run Lola Run DVD.jpg
Directed byTom Tykwer
Written byTom Tykwer
Produced byStefan Arndt
StarringFranka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu
Distributed byProkino Filmverleih
Release date
1998
Running time
81 min
LanguageGerman
Budget$1,750,000 (estimated)

It is an unconventional film, in that it covers the same twenty-minute span of time three times, each differing in small details that in turn lead the story to radically different outcomes. The script follows a spiral structure. Spirals are also frequently used as a visual motif, partially as an homage to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, which Tykwer admires. The film, particularly with its time limit and "multiple lives" concept, also owes a clear debt to Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski, who explored the theme in films such as Blind Chance, The Double Life of Véronique, and Three Colors: Red. (Tykwer would go on to direct Heaven, which Kieślowski had planned as his next film, after Kieślowski's death.)

Another film from the same year as Run Lola Run that explores parallel universes is Peter Howitt's Sliding Doors, starring Gwynneth Paltrow.

While most German films in English speaking countries are subtitled, this film is one of the few German films to have been dubbed into English, alongside The Princess and the Warrior, Anatomy, Der Schuh des Manitu and Das Boot. However, the English dub was widely panned, and it was generally recommended to watch the original German version.

Synopsis

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Lola's boyfriend, Manni, is involved in a smuggling operation. Manni's final task in a particular job is to transport 100 000 marks to his boss Ronnie. Lola is supposed to drive Manni to the meeting, but her moped has been stolen. Manni resorts to public transportation when Lola doesn't appear, but he accidentally leaves the money on a subway train, where it is found by a bum. He places a frantic phone call to Lola and explains the situation: if he doesn't have the money when he meets Ronnie at noon, Manni will be killed. Lola vows to find the money by then, but noon is only twenty minutes away. It is at this point that the alternate realities sequence begins.

  • First Reality - With little time and no vehicle, Lola runs through the streets of Berlin to get to her father's bank, trying to get money from him. When he refuses, she and Manni rob a grocery store, and Lola is accidentally shot by a police officer shortly afterward.
  • Second Reality - As she dies, the film suddenly seems to start over; it jumps back to the end of her phone call from Manni, and again she tries to get the money from her father. However, a small detail near the beginning changes, and so the outcome is wildly different: she ends up robbing her father's bank at gunpoint. She brings the money to Manni, but he is run down by an ambulance as he crosses the street.
  • Third Reality - The story starts a third time. She gets to her father's bank only to see him driving away. She then runs through the town, asking for divine help. She comes to a casino, gets a single 100 mark chip, and finds a roulette table. She bets on 20 and wins. She leaves her winnings on 20 for the next spin, winning again. She has the money, but she still has to catch up with Manni by noon. She hitches a ride in an ambulance, which is carrying a security guard from her father's bank; he presumably suffered a heart attack. Lola says to herself "I'll stay with him," and holds the hand of the man, and moments later he starts to recover to a normal heart rate. Her statement, though not explained, may be a resolution to her ambivalence about her relationship with Manni. Meanwhile, Manni has borrowed a phonecard from a blind woman to make a phone call seeking a loan. He returns the phone card, but this time, unlike in the previous two sequences, he thanks her. She then gestures with her head, and Manni looks up to notice the bum with his money riding by on a bike. Manni is successful in chasing down the bum, recovering his money, and delivering it to Ronnie. The movie ends with Manni asking Lola what's in her bag.

Throughout the film, Lola bumps into people, talks to them, or passes them by entirely. Details of that person's future are subsequently shown in a series of still frames. The futures are widely divergent from encounter to encounter. In one scenario, a woman whom Lola accidentally bumps into wins the lottery and becomes rich; in a different scenario, she remains poor and her child is taken away by social workers. The encounters with Lola differ only slightly, so the vastly changed futures in the "flash forwards" are an example of the butterfly effect.

References

The most notable references in this film are to the film Vertigo by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Besides the camera work, a very specific reference to Vertigo is the painting on the back wall of the casino. Tykwer disliked the empty space on the wall behind the roulette table and commissioned production designer Alexander Manasse to paint a picture of Kim Novak as she appeared in Vertigo. Manasse could not remember what she looked like in the film and so decided to paint her from behind. The painting took fifteen minutes to complete.

Other movies are referenced more obliquely. The store robbery scene is sometimes described as an homage to Pulp Fiction or any number of Bonnie and Clyde-style tales.

There are also several references to German culture in the film. The most notable is the use of Hans Paetsch as a narrator for the scene. Paetsch is a very famous narrator of children’s stories in Germany, whose voice anyone who'd listened to his children’s stories growing up would recognize. Two quotes by German football legend Sepp Herberger, "The ball is round" and "The game lasts 90 minutes", are spoken by the guard in the first scene in the film.

The soundtrack of the film, also by Tykwer, includes numerous musical quotations of the sustained string chords of "The Unanswered Question", an early 20th century chamber ensemble work by American composer Charles Ives. In the original work, the chords are meant to represent the music of the spheres.

The Simpsons episode Trilogy of Error makes clear references to the movie. The triple timeline approach was used in an episode of Johnny Bravo, which also including pictures of people's possible lives. The music video for Quarashi's "Mr. Jinx" was a homage to the movie, starring Hössi Olafsson, one of the members of the Icelandic rap group, as himself, trying to get to a Quarashi gig at a club on time. The music video for Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue" also features alternate timelines as frontman Ryan Key chases after a woman who has stolen a briefcase from him as he is pursued by two thugs who are actually members the band. In the first reality she drives off, leaving him to be assaulted by the thugs. In the second reality he gets there ahead of time and is struck by her vehicle. In the third and final reality he arrives in time to stand in front of her car so that she brakes for him. She beckons him inside and the two drive off into the distance and the thugs are left staning there.

Cast list

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