Liebestraum (1991)

Inspired by the haunting music of composer Franz Liszt, Liebestraum is an ominous tale (Time Out) of lust, jealousy and murder. Award-winning* writer/director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) brilliantly weaves a 'smoldering blend of sex, death and music (Janet Maslin, TheNew York Times) into a 'satisfyingly dark (The Hollywood Reporter), 'sophisticated, seductive [and] romantic thriller (Village View)! What begins as a passionate crusade to save a landmark building turns into a passionate love affair with dire consequences. Nick (Kevin Anderson), a professor of architecture who's come home to visit his dying mother (Kim Novak), knows he must preserve a cast-iron building marked for demolition by Paul (Bill Pullman), a ruthless developer andformer friend. But when he falls for Paul's wife, Jane (Pamela Gidley), Nick unwittingly tempts fate with his own life. For buried within the walls of the landmark lies a dark secreta murderous history which is linked to Nick and now may find him as its next victim! *1995: Director, IndependentSpirit Award, LA Film Critics Circle and National Society of Film Critics, Leaving Las Vegas

Pointless...

The dvd plays fine... but why anyone would want to watch this is beyond me. It was boring and fatally pointless. I didn't care enough about the characters to bother trying to follow or figure out the plot. And I'm not someone who only watches movies like Porky's Revenge. I followed Memento and loved it as well as other complex movies. But this... save your money. It doesn't get any worse IMHO. October 24, 2008

A great plot idea succumbs to misguided "art"....

Yet another film that could have been wonderful but staggers and finally succumbs under the weight of artsy film ambitions. Spoiler: the film's premise of a 30+ year old murder/suicide revisited in a haunting fashion by people connected to it a generation later could have made for a truly compelling story - there are hints of reincarnation and the possibility of changing fate or the danger of reinacting it a second time around.

Characters return, converging to the site of the crime: the Ralston Department Store, now closed and being torn down. Unfortunately, the movie plods along much too slowly. Clues are too slow in coming and too abstractly cloaked in artsy film making. It isn't until the last 20 minutes that things begin to fall into place; The matter of the lone survivor of the crime leaves a problematic element if one accepts the premise of possible reincarnation - maybe transmigration of a soul was intended?

Strangely, the film does pull you to it after you've watched it once and understand what it was trying for. The problem is the lack of action and plodding pace can't hold the attention long enough for most to want to watch it through to the end the first time around..... January 13, 2008

Great film

I wrote the first Amazon review on the film Liebestraum in 1999 after seeing it first on late night BBC, then buying the director's uncut VHS version. Now 8 years later it is still my all time best movie. Please buy or rent it and see what you think. It is so different in so many ways from any other movie I've seen. For me at least the characters became real people. It is noir, a murder mystery, an interpretation of dreams, but mostly (consistent with the title) a love story. I am fortunate to have loved like Nick and Jane love, and the movie captures the feelings precisely. September 10, 2007

A+ Mystery, Photography,Music,Actors

Everything about this movie is interesting...I consider it a modern film noir psychological crime mystery with great music (Earl Bostic,for one) and photography of buildings, people, shadow and light. The ending to the mystery is amazing and never suspected by me. Like Vertigo, Sudden Fear, Dead Again, Dead Gorgeous, Seconds, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and others, Liebestraum inspires many viewings for new clues to the mystery. January 19, 2007

Liebestraum by Mike Figgis

Viewers sensitive music,photography, and photogenic actors, may love this film, even be stunned by it. As often with highly 'esthetic' films, however, where the filmmaker expresses his love for music, painting, fetish actor etc..., other essential components can suffer. Here the story is predictable (character as fate repeating itself in the next generation formula) and for me the characters don't come alive--not so that I care about them anyway. True, the (attentive) viewer will discover a surprize plot twist near the end---does anyone care when it comes? There are great issues lurking here: quality of our life (compassion, love, beauty, craftsmanship) opposed to the quick buck with no heed to consequences. The male lead architect and his old classmate's wife-photographer who long to self discover by opening their feelings as opposed to demolition boss and mother (Novak) who destroy sooner than allow themselves to feel. But I'm afraid these 'great issues' lurk rather than come alive, with the consequence that I the spectator was uninvolved and unmoved. Mike Figgis had potentially precious raw material (including a charismatic leading man): will he someday, like a great filmmaker, turn the dross to gold? September 18, 2005

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