Review of Christiane F

Introduction

Originally filmed in the early eighties, this has become a part of German film history and is required watching in their schools as is accurately shows the Berlin drug scene of the 1970s, a kind of early German Trainspotting.

The film follows a young, naieve schoolgirl as she descends from a normal existence into a drug dependent haze.

Christiane lives in Berlin and her mostly meaningless life revolves around David Bowie (his music runs throughout the film) Her friends introduce her to drugs and so the slide begins...

Video

Poor for a dvd, there`s dust and scratched from the transfer, they either didn`t bother cleaning the film or it`s all in a bad way...

The actual fiml is very dark as most of the action happens at night and the picture can get a bit muddied at times.

The dvd menus are also very basic.

Audio

Great soundtrack, let down by the quality of the recording....

Thanfully they didn`t dub the German (there is a dubbed version, it`s aweful!), it`s full of emotion, and even for those that need to use the subtitles, gives a good idea of the atmosphere of the film.

For those German speakers, it can me a bit muffled in places and sounds as you;d expect for a 30 year old film.

Features

English Subtitles and some production notes.

Conclusion

This is a must-see film that I think all teenagers should be made to watch (even though it has an 18 rating....) as it depicts ths drug scene in a very real way (and is used in German schools as part of their anti-drug campaigns in schools)

Yes, the dvd is poor, but the film itself is gripping, scary and brilliant.

This is one the Criterion guys should get their paws on..........