''Jerichow'' is a 2008 German drama film written and directed by Christian Petzold. It is loosely inspired by the 1934 American novel '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' by

James M. Cain James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction. His novels ''The Postman Always Rings Twice ...

. The film was invited into the competition of the 65th Venice Film Festival, as the first film to be shown, and was also nominated for the 2009 German Film Prize in the Best Feature Film and Best Director categories. The official German premiere was on 8 January 2009. The American showings were in German with English subtitles. As the title suggests, the film takes place in the German town of

Jerichow Jerichow () is a town on the east side of the river Elbe, in the District of Jerichower Land, of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. With about , the municipality of Jerichow is one of the largest municipalities in area size in Germany. Geog ...

Plot summary

Thomas, a German veteran of the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

, helps Ali, a Turkish entrepreneur, after he crashes his car due to driving drunk. Ali hires Thomas, and Thomas and Laura, Ali's wife, start having an affair. As the drama unfolds, violence starts.

Cast

Benno Fürmann Benjamin "Benno" Fürmann (; born 17 January 1972) is a German film and television actor. He is known for his lead role in the 2008 film ''The North Face'', where he plays Toni Kurz based on the 1936 Eiger climbing disaster in Switzerland. Li ...

as Thomas *

Nina Hoss Nina Hoss (; born 7 July 1975) is a German stage and film actress. Early life Hoss was born in Stuttgart, West Germany. Her father, , was a German trade unionist and politician (member of the Bundestag with The Greens). Her mother, , was an act ...

as Laura *

Hilmi Sözer Hilmi Sözer (born 9 March 1970) is a Turkish-German actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as fi ...

as Ali Özkan *

André Hennicke André Hennicke (born 21 September 1958) is a German actor. He has appeared in more than one hundred films since 1984. Hennicke was born in Johanngeorgenstadt in Saxony. He was awarded a German television award for best actor for ''Something to ...

as Leon *Claudia Geisler as Clerical assistant *

Marie Gruber Marie Gruber (11 June 1955 in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia – 8 February 2018) was a German actress. She appeared in more than one hundred films since 1980. Selected filmography References External links

* 1955 births 2018 d ...

as Cashier *

Knut Berger Knut Berger is a German actor. He was born in 1975 in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. He played Axel Himmelman in the 2004 Israeli film '' Walk on Water''. Films * ''Deutschland 86 ''Deutschland 86'' () is a 2018 German telev ...

as Policeman

Reception

Wesley Morris, a writer for ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', liked the film despite what he called silly romance and even sillier suspense. In a review for ''

Philadelphia Weekly ''Philadelphia Weekly'' (''PW'') is a website based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded as a newspaper in 1971 as ''The Welcomat'', a sister publication to the ''South Philadelphia Press''. In 1995, the paper became ''Philadelphia Weekl ...

'', Matt Prigge gave the film a mixed review with a B rating. Roderick Conway Morris, of ''

International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...

'', complimented the performances of the three actors.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film a positive review, saying "Petzold, who also wrote the script, doesn't make level one thrillers, and his characters may be smarter than us, or dumber".

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jerichow 2008 films 2000s German-language films 2000s Turkish-language films 2008 drama films Films based on works by James M. Cain Films directed by Christian Petzold German drama films 2008 multilingual films German multilingual films 2000s German films