Films on individuals confronted with personal strokes
‘Emmas Bliss’, the first film of the series “Unexpected Strokes of Fate” presented by Goethe Institute will be screened at 7 pm on November 15 at the Goethe Hall, Gregory’s road, Colombo 7.
Directed by Sven Taddicken, the film revolves around Max who does not have long to live. He wants to spend his last few days far away. When he winds up on the farm of the headstrong pig breeder Emma after an accident, he learns that real happiness is closer than he thought.
This 2006 romantic tragic-comedy that takes place in contemporary rural Germany is based on the novel Emmas Glück, now translated into English under the title Emma’s Luck by Claudia Schreiber.
Upon being informed that he is fatally ill with cancer, Max, who works at a used car lot, steals over seventy thousand illegally gained euros from his boss. His boss sees him, giving chase to Max. Max intentionally crashes the car. He is lifted unconscious from the destroyed vehicle by a big and strong woman, Emma, who lives alone on a farm in the boondocks. She discovers the money and sets the car aflame.
When Max comes to, she tells him that the car has burned and that she took nothing but him from the car before it burst into flames. Max hides from her the fact that he is dying. He also hides from the police, in the form of the nearby village’s young officer, Henner, who has had his heart set on marrying Emma. Love blooms between Max and Emma, after some stumbles, such as his finding out that she had taken the money.
In the four films “Emmas Bliss”, “Stopped on track”, “About a Girl” and “Herbert” presented in film series on themes of individual persons who are confronted with different personal strokes of fate that turn their lives and the lives of their families and friends upside down. Each of them has his own way of dealing with the situation. Due to the thrilling and personally narrated stories the audience gets a deep insight into living with a psychological or physical illness and some different ways to deal with it. It is especially moving to see how all of the affected persons seem to learn what really matters in life.
Compiled by Susitha Fernando
