Christiane F. (1981)

Admirable film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The first must-see film of the year.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

I saw it for the first time randomly when I was 13 years old, but not all of it. I would search for it with a lot of names( I saw it on Italian) but could not find it...After a lot of research I found the movie and was so happy to see it again..There is something so strange about this movie. It takes you with it. You get inside the movie and feel everything..After you watch it once you will never forget it... Everything seems so true for Berlin. Actually it is because a lot of things are for real, some videos for example. They say it has a lot in common with Albania, the capital Tirana at years 1996..The explanation about drugs is so true..It is based on a true story, the book actually with the same name.

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.

Based on a non-fiction book by Vera Christiane Felscherinow Christiane F is an example tough, hard hitting, but excellent film about drug addiction that can stand alongside the likes of Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream and Thirteen.Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her mother in a social housing building in West Berlin during the late 70s. Her younger sister moves out and her mother has a new boyfriend. Christiane starts to spend her Saturday evenings in a nightclub called Sound and soon befriends a group of teenagers, including Delef (Thomas Haustein) who becomes her boyfriend. She soon slides into a world of drugs, taking LSD and heroin and becomes a street prostitute when she is 14.Christiane F. is a tough watch but director Uli Edel injects enough and Brunckhorst's performance makes the film a very compelling watch. Edel shows Berlin to be a very depressing, concert jungle that is decaying and uses dark and gritty cinematography constantly. Edel sets out to show the world as it is and we see the full efforts of heroin use and addiction as the characters physically and socially decay. Edel shows confidence with his staging, using steady camera and continuous takes to show characters, Christiane in the club or going into their drug apartment. There were two moments particularly that reminded me of Requiem for a Dream, one where Christiane is in the back of a car where she tries heroin for the first time and one in Bahnhof Zoo shot in a dream like way as we follow Christiane and has a fantastic deep piano song in the background.Brunckhorst gave a fantastic, natural performance as we see Christiane becomes dependent on drugs. The whole cast were excellent and it is even more remarkable because many of them were non-actors in very tough roles and Christiane F. is their only acting credit. We see Christiane change physically, both with her dress and hair to losing weight and becomes more pale. There are tough but great sequence when Christiane gets high, shaking and swearing the middle of the night and the tough withdrawn sequence.Christiane F. also has constant theme of foreshadowing of what could happen to Christiane, seeing how addict and people saying they don't want to do heroin before submitting. There are moments where addicts also try to talk people out of trying drugs in a half-hearted manner and the film aims for realistic behaviour of addicts, which was wonderfully handled.Christiane F. also has a great soundtrack, both using David Bowie music and the score as already mention.I have not read the book, so I cannot truly judge it as an adaption, but I would have been interesting to see how Christiane dealt with school as she became more addicted to heroin and looked more at her mother, either noticing or ignoring a change in her behaviour: even if it a quick discussion between the mum and the boyfriend and dismissing it as typical teenage rebellion.Christiane F. is a very bleak and grim film but it is worth watching. It should be praised for its realism, actors, direction and style.

Having watched this movie when it was first released, liked other reviewers I felt I needed to revisit it find out whether it was as influential and affecting as I remember. Well, the short answer is yes. It is very well realised, Uli Edel created an enthralling film from the book of the same name. He doesn't rely on improbable drama to move the story forward, just a matter-of-fact story that sees the young Christiane first drift into the world of discos and soft drugs and gradually become involved in the Berling heroin scene. And it relies on a certain amount of realism for the film to work, however, we don't get the contemporary film maker's penchant for hand-held wobbly camera work, we get Edel creating a claustrophobic world of late night teenage hedonism, from which Christiane and Detlev's relationship evolves from one of mutual attraction to one of mutual addiction.This kind of movie had been made before, most obviously by Jerry Shatzberg eight years previously with Panic In Needle Park, but the film (distributed by 20th Century Fox) was still fairly mainstream. Christiane F / Zoo was raw and street-wise, plus it had a European sensibility that made it more relevant to a generation of Western European teenagers. We had been warned of the dangers of heroin, but now we could see it played out before our eyes on the movie screen.So, it is definitely a movie of its time. The drugs available then were limited, and the movie reflects the limitations of choice not only in drugs, but in music, entertainment, and life. The film has that 1970s washed out look, the acting is pretty below average, the dialogue stilted, but Edel focuses on the grim reality of Berlin, its social housing, the places people meet, the things they do. This was pretty much the same for all European cities in the 1970s and this realism is what ultimately makes the film worth watching. Its a snapshot of 1970s European youth culture; grim, boring, apathetic and economically challenged. What made their life more interesting? Bowie and drugs.