Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" or "The Princess and the Warrior" is a German movie from over 15 years ago written and directed by Tom Tykwer. He made this one 2 years after "Lola rennt" and once again cast Franka Potente, the rising star of German cinema, as the lead character. Tykwer and Potente were still a couple at this point. But this strong relationship did not necessarily result in a good movie this time. I cannot blame Potente though, I would even say she was better in here than in the overrated "Lola rennt". In terms of Benno Fürmann, I am a bit biased as he is far from one of my favorite actors and I don't think he is particularly talented. He cannot convince me otherwise here either. Also I am confused by the film's title. Not only is it fairly pretentious, but it has Fürmann's character first and he is really just a supporting player. It is all about Potente's character from start to finish. "Start to finish" means a massive 125 minutes here, this film makes it past the 2-hour mark, but it is not even close to having the material for this runtime and sadly, this is true for several Tykwer fans. I saw that in his newest film, he worked with Tom Hanks (again). I am genuinely baffled that he is still considered one of Germany's best filmmakers abroad. I have yet to see a movie where he really wows me, especially as a writer.But back to this one here: The story is about a nurse who has a serious accident and a stranger saves her life. As a consequence, she keeps searching for him and when she has found him, she somewhat confesses her affection for him. This is already pretty strange. Can he not just be a good Samaritan without her developing feelings right away. And equally strange is his reaction. He is more interested in committing a crime (Lola reference) than in going on a date with the girl despite how stunning she is. So yeah, he has not much interest, but of course this changes at some point as they had to include a pretty bizarre love story in here too next to the bizarre crime story. This film felt like a weaker version of the Schweiger/Wokalek movie "Barfuss". Tykwer proves again that he struggles a lot with character elaboration and his films are in so many cases examples of style over substance, sometimes hidden between pompous costumes or impressive special effects. But the story-telling comes short and when he really tries it, then the outcome is frequently disappointing. Just like here. Thumbs down for this movie, I do not recommend it and it lacks realism in pretty much all areas. This is nothing that could have happened in real life whatsoever. Not even close.

Mike This had a very good story and could have been a very good movie, if it had been directed by someone that understood that his audience needed to be entertained while watching his product or at the least kept awake. I was constantly dozing off with the pace of the whole movie. Everyone took an unusually long time before speaking their lines, as if they were trying to remember them. The scenes almost fit together but seemed to be lacking in continuity. Even the final scene is milked for an excessively long time. I presume that is in keeping with the central mind numbing theme to bore the audience out of its' mind. The scene where 'Bodo' is driving the car and sitting in the back seat watching himself is precious. I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Argemaluco Tom Tykwer is a director whose movie Run Lola run made him famous around the world.Run Lola run is a very dynamic movie which had some innovative things which made it better than a lot of action films.It would have been very easy if Tykwer made more movies like Run Lola run,but he decided to take another way with serious movies like The princess and the warrior(the movie I'll talk about on this commentary),Heaven and Perfume.The best thing about The princess and the warrior is the excellent photography it has.The photography gives aspects about the characters.Franka Potente and Benno Furmann give excellent performances.The expressions these two actors make are simply phenomenal.The movie has a slow development but it's never boring.The princess and the warrior is a very good movie with honest emotions and great performances.Tom Tykwer is a very interesting director.

cuonghyun I have seen "Princess and Warrior" about 10 times. Honestly, I really want to watch it again and again another time. This is one of my favorite movies. I love this movie for some reasons: 1. The cinematography of this movie is brilliant. I love the movement of the camera, the angles, the compositions and the lighting. This is how the movie is told in the visual world and cinematic culture. 2. The directing of this movie is superb! The ways the characters interact with each other are naturally. I feel like I am witnessing everything is going on in every single scene. Therefore, My mind reached the catharsis moment that the film produced. 3. I love the acting of both actors, Franka Potente (Sissi) and Benno Furmann (Bodo). Sissi has a great heart. She believes in what she feels. She is determined with what she believes that is the truth. Most of all, she can stand up for love. Benno is excellent for his acting as Bodo. I like the look of the character Bodo constructed. The masculinity of the character Bodo is reinforced by Benno acting and the directing of Tykwer. How Bodo's inner world influences his behaviour can be sympathetic. I was attracted by the acting of these two central characters (Franka Potente and Benno Furmann)I can feel every breath they breath, every word they say and every tear they cry. The love and the miracle intertwine with the happiness and the tragedy. In this world, everybody has his/her own pain but depend how s/he expresses. Some people try to hide the pain and someone is trying to understand one's pain in order to help them to overcome/recover. Everything we need is time. Just only time can help to heal the wounds, particularly, some wounds are deep in our hearts. Another elements to help us recover from pain are love and miracle. Together, time, love and miracle can help us all escape our own world to live in the better world, the world of love. There are many lives are shown in the movie but Sissi and Bodo represent of two lives in many tragic cases. One has a mother was killed by her own mad father; one has a wife was killed by chosen the suicidal way. Both are ladies but they both died in different situations. This movie for those who believe in love, believe in miracle, and believe that somewhere in this world there is someone who is waiting to love and to be loved. Let's love each other! I love this movie and I believe so do you.