Cloud 9: elders bare all for love
By Joyce Glasser - 29/06/2009
From Germany, comes an all time first: a serious drama about senior citizens that is full of nudity and sex. ‘Cloud 9’ (pictured left) is, of course, that feeling of butterfly jitters and euphoria usually associated with young, single people when they meet that special someone at a school dance. It certainly wasn’t in the cards for the buxom 66-year old grandmother Inge (Ursula Werner), whose 30-year marriage to Werner (Horst Rehberg) is as dependable as the tides.
Cloud 9 begins as Inge, a part-time seamstress, delivers a pair of trousers she has mended for a septuagenarian customer named Karl (Horst Westphal). As Karl tries on the trousers in front of her, passion ignites and they start making love on the carpet. After the deed, Inge rushes out without saying goodbye, realising that no amount of mending can fix the mess she’s in. Back at home, Inge strips in front of the mirror, as though it’s the first time she’s looked at her body in 30 years and is baffled how she can still feel so young. The more Inge tries to forget Karl, the stronger her feelings become, until she has no choice but to break Werner’s heart.
For director Andreas Dresen the idea was to right the wrongs committed when filmmakers depict mature love – if they depict it at all— as sentimental, mild-mannered, and always fully clothed.
“Normal old people, those who have wrinkled and aged with dignity but no longer conform to the image of beautiful and joyful youth are not seen or represented. They are not granted any great emotions, and no sexuality whatsoever.”
Truer words were never spoken, but in Cloud 9 the nudity and sex come at the expense of characterisation, romance and an interesting story. Though the three leads are seasoned and courageous actors, they seem self-conscious, and not only in the sex scenes. Too often the lovers stare at one another in an awkward silence that seems more stilted than atmospheric. Moreover, even in tales of young love, explicit sex can, ironically, be a real turn off. Certainly Inge’s bedroom scene with Werner falls into that category. Dresen breaks up the love triangle with Inge’s choir practice, but – perhaps due to budget constraints – doesn’t take advantage of this social setting to reveal more about her or the two men in her life. Since it’s difficult to warm to the characters, the affair and marital break-up lack the emotional resonance the viewer needs to be moved by Inge’s copious weeping.