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Romance with fairytale beginning ends with a post-modern twist

German art house film The Princess and The Warrior is a post- modern fairy tale in both form and content and a work of great originality.

Its title refers to classic fairy tales where the hero rescues a captured princess, marries her, and then the prince and the princess live happily forever after.

This romantic drama follows such a recipe initially but evolves into something opposite.

The encounter between cranky psychiatric nurse Sissi (Franka Potente) and frustrated ex-soldier Bodo (Benno Furmann) takes place under neath a truck in a disturbingly beautiful scene.

Sissi is knocked down by the truck and lies underneath, unable to breath.

Bodo, her warrior, coincidentally turns up, cuts a hole into her windpipe and inserts a straw to let her breath.

One of the most creative and memorable scenes in cinema history, it is stunning, erotic and also post-modern. Is it administering first aid or is it kissing? The line is blurred with them looking into each other's eyes with such gentleness.

Sissi expresses her sensual feelings about the stranger close to her throughout the process.

'I wished I could tell him that he smells good,' Sissi says to herself as the weeping Bodo keeps sucking her blood that comes up the straw, clearing her windpipe and allowing her to take a deep breath each time before more blood comes up.

A mixture of the disturbing sight of thick red blood running up the straw slowly, the bubbling noise that alternates with a deep breathing sound, the closeness of the pair, and Sissi's internal monologue creates a highly bizarre effect.

She is instantly attracted to the sad-looking man who keeps trying to escape the hauntingly painful memory of the accident that killed his wife. Smashing the warrior's strong image in classic fairy tales, Bodo displays an injured psyche that causes him to push Sissi's love away.

The fated couple run into each other again in Bodo's failed bank robbery in which his brother Walter (Joachim Krol) is shot. Sissi hides him at the psychiatric ward where he breaks down after learning of Walter's death.

On the run from police and a death threat, Sissi leads Bodo, holding his hand in hers, making a decisive escape which eventually leads to the south of France. There waits a pretty miniature 'castle' that Sissi had always wanted to go to and which belongs to her best friend Meike.

The closing scene of the idyllic seaside castle they finally get to, gives a strong hint of the fairytale ending. After the princess rescues the warrior and redeems his spirit, they then live together happily forever after.

The film presents a post-modern view of the relationship between the sexes. It displays an obsessive emphasis on the hero's masculinity and physical fitness that serves to heighten his psychic weakness.

The Princess and The Warrior opens on Thursday at Broadway Cinematheque. It is in German with English and Chinese subtitles.

Verdict:

Graphic: YPFRGLO

Graphic: F33GLO

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