Christiane F.

1981 "The image of a generation."
7.5| 2h11m| R| en
Details

This movie portrays the drug scene in Berlin in the 70s, following tape recordings of Christiane F. 14 years old Christiane lives with her mother and little sister in a typical multi-storey apartment building in Berlin. She's fascinated by the 'Sound', a new disco with most modern equipment. Although she's legally too young, she asks a friend to take her. There she meets Detlef, who's in a clique where everybody's on drugs. Step by step she gets drawn deeper into the scene.

Director

Producted By

Solaris Film

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Trailers & Clips

Also starring Jens Kuphal

Reviews

SunnyHello Nice effects though.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
Bill Vordenbaum This was a disturbing, dark drama about the dangers of doing illegal drugs - especially heroin. Since the users/victims were in their early teens, it would probably not be widely shown in the U.S. Still, it realistically depicts the desperate plight of juvenile junkies in late- seventies West Berlin. Much stronger than its British counterpart Trainspotting (released some 15 years later), it is not for the faint of heart. Most of the film centers around the life of 14yo Christane and her close-knit clique of barely adolescent teens. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll in the seedy district of former West Berlin provide the backdrop for this dramatic tragedy. I highly recommend it, if only for the historical accuracy of the story and some vintage German Bowie concert footage. :)
t_atzmueller If you grew up in Germany during the 1980s, "Christiane F" would seem forever present, no matter where you looked. The film was a mayor hit at the box-office and excerpts from the original novel were made homework in almost all schools. One couldn't open up a boulevard-paper or magazine without coming across horror-stories about yet another youngster that has overdosed in a seedy toilet by the train-station, generally accompanied by a photo of said toilet and corpse (more often than not looking horrible fake). Indeed, most kids that the distinct impression that, should they fall with the wrong crowd and – heaven beware – ever take a drag from a joint, that they would surely join that ever-growing horde of junkies that seemed to take over the subways like an army of the living dead. At least such was the impression.First of: those drug-hotspots did exist, they do exist and – unless one day some sensible drug-policies are implicated and the politics stop catering to big-business drug-cartels – they will exist forevermore. Go to any major train-station between Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin, and you'll find junkies loitering around. And yes, if you look suitable gullible, you'll likely be approached by an 'ex-junkie, freshly sober and clean' who'll request some financial assistance, that will enable him to 'reach a far-off place, where a job is waiting for him or her'. But what you won't find is this seemingly post-apocalyptic scenario that "Christiane F" has painted, simply because it never existed other than in the media and the minds of the people.One must give kudos to the film and the director: It shows the effect of heavy drug-addiction as realistic and relentless as "Leaving Las Vegas" shows the effect of alcohol-abuse. The horrors of being a junkie, drifting ever further the social-ladder and the descent into addiction, prostitution and eventually death are indeed harrowing. However, when it comes to the subject of the protagonist and the severity of the general problems, more than just some artistic-liberties have been taken.Unlike the novel and the interviews with (the real) Christiane F, the film neglects to tell us, that Christiane and her friends already come from a severely disturbed, low-class background. Germanys social-system (or if you want, "caste-system") is very rigid, similar to that in the US. "Can't deny your roots" and if you happen to come from a redneck or white trash background, it is very unlikely that all the money in the world will be able to wash that background off.The movie would like to make us believe that any 'nice girl from next door' can slide down into the living hell of the junkie-world, but that is only half true. True, anybody can get hooked on drugs, be it nicotine, heroin, coffee or the adrenaline rush received from extreme sports. But to become part of this little world of Christiane F (horrible as it may be), it would require an exposure that literally begins at birth.So, despite all the truth in "Christiane F", one also has to admit that it is vastly exaggerated and, in the context of media-politics (especially in the West) also very manipulative. Look no further than the current anti-drug campaigns, that assure us that smoking marijuana is the beginning of the end (no, marijuana leads to harder drugs like thinking leads to madness). You will no doubt have read about Crystal-Meth, that currently turns a whole generation into an army of toothless, violent zombies. Or about the drug Krokodil looming on the horizon, a drug 50-times as potent as heroin and making the flesh virtually rot off the user's bones. They do exist, Crystal-Meth and/or Krokodil – but like most illegal things, they are more detrimental to the individual and not the society.As much as I cherish "Christiane F" as a movie, it's relentless realism, the excellent actors (both the professionals and the laymen) and not being able to deny that it is one of the most accomplished anti-drug-films of all times, I cannot help to think that it's neither an answer to anything, nor at the essence very much more than a parody (albeit a harrowing one) of the drug-culture and the general situation. As such I can give it no more than 6/10.
videorama-759-859391 Christiane F is powerfully confronting on it's first view. I first saw it, when I was 14. As just seeing it the other day, it is still a powerful engaging film about teenage drug addiction, which the two leads, so convincingly play, there's never a moment you don't believe em', where you forget they're actors. The film was surprisingly made by the same guy who made Body Of Evidence, where a couple of years earlier, he did that powerful and one of a kind art-house film, Last Exit To Brooklyn. Here, we follow Christine's life from 11 upwards, where she's learning quick, trying to escape the tedium of living with just her mother and sister in Berlin. Little Sis splits, leaving the duo, where Christiane and her mother are slowly drifting apart. Mummy has this new boyfriend, which of course like any daughter, disapproves of. The boyfriend gives her a David Bowie record, where she already has that particular album, a point to be made there. After clubbing about with her best friend, she meets her first boyfriend, Detlev, already an addict/and part time hustler, working the train station where perverted older clients with a lot of doe pick em up. Drug taking runs high in this, the first shock scene has a guy who overdoses in a cubicle, which reminded of how frank and shockingly real that scene was. Obviously that nameless guy was a bloody good actor. Also in close up, a little too close, we see as a test of love, Christiane pin pricking here skin, making a tattoo. Soon she graduates to H, and there's a private room, where an H is painted on the door. We follow her descent, and more a need for companionship. One cold turkey scene, ends with her and boyfriend, Detlev vomiting over each other (the things actors have to do). There are people who will misjudge this film as amateur, or a sleazy made for shock value film, but sometimes you have to shock to get a message across. I admit it felt a bit of amateur, but I think I was manipulated over the negative or bad reviews. Yes the movie does have faults, but it's shockingly powerful. But the big flaw, I found in the whole movie, was the scattered structure of story, and it's connected scenes, not making it the easiest film to follow in that respect. It was like we were missing some bits, and other parts of it were moving too quick, or weren't explained enough, where the journey of the story wasn't the clearest, and this is what downgraded it's quality, and with the film being dubbed didn't help. But still it's a powerfully charged movie from 83', a cult hit, you have to experience, with a memorable last scene on an island, where Christine cleans up.
jokexom First of all, the film is striking in its atmosphere. Berlin 70s. Street children, drug addicts, eager doses to live another day without the pains of hell from breaking.On the one hand this is a common everyday life story girl (boy) who threw his father, and therefore have a bad relationship with his mother, who still somehow trying to live, finding a man. Christine appear secrets she kept lying to the mother, that she sometimes does not notice.When watching the film he reminds "Requiem for a Dream." Although he leaves a horrible experience. At the sight of creepy moments, such as when Christine, a 14-year-old girl for the first time taking a dose, has sex, as she slowly becomes a prostitute, while denying it, since it does not want to consider themselves such. When she first tried heroin, inhaling it, she liked it, it was a real thrill then. But when she decided to try it intravenously, it could be only one - beginning of the end.Time passed, the dose needed to live on. Around dying people familiar to her people. It seems that their death will affect about it, but, alas, it did not. Only after her Babsi drugs radically changed, and she decided to get out of this slavery, even though at times it is difficult.Still amazed when she and "her boyfriend" tried to quit. They seemed very strong mentally. Hold out for several days, and it is a very long and painful day. I can not even imagine what they went through during this time! Although everything was then wasted. Like realizing that they can easily quit at any time, they decided to start again this servitude.In general, despite causing a picture in my head to keep a few words that embody the film. Freedom, violence, and degradation of the individual. That is what showed me the film. In general it can be seen from the very first minutes of viewing. Regarding freedom. I can not understand where her mother, where she looked. Whether it is strongly attracted to each other and their problems, whether she did not care for her daughter. Although the first with the second tally.Cruelty - it appears in dependence. The person becomes aggressive. And this is what gives rise to even more worst qualities in a man. Take even the guy who "her first time" gave his gun, and then, like a hungry animal, wild dog, broke away from the syringe in order to satisfy their vice. Frightened, grabbed the syringe after seen, rinse it in the toilet! It's so down to do not care for anything. Heroin - a kind of "cure" with side effects, namely the degradation of the individual.One of the best films on the topic of child abuse, which can be safely recommended to those who are hooked on "Requiem for a Dream." This is sort of a classic of the genre.