HEIMAT 3
aka CHRONIK EINER ZEITENWENDE

Year: 2003
UK: Artificial Eye
Cast: Henry Arnold, Salome Kammer, Michael Kausch, Matthias Kniesbeck, Christian Leonard, Constance Wetzel, Nicola Schössler, Uwe Steimle, Tom Quaas, Larissa Iwlewa, Antje Brauner, Peter Schneider, Heiko Senst, Julia Prochnow, Karen Hempel, Peter Götz, Bertold Korner, Christel Schäfer, Matko Patrick Mayer, Benjamin Krämer-Jenster, Rainer Guldener, Andreas Kulzer, Jutta AltmeyeR
Director: Edgar Reitz
Country: Germany
Language: German (English subtitles)
UK: 680 mins (6 parts) Part 1 109 mins; Part 2: 100 mins; Part 3: 125 mins;
Part 4: 131 mins; Part 5: 105 mins; Part 6: 108 mins
UK Certificates:
Part 1: 15 contains strong sex
Part 2: 15 contains strong sex
Part 3: 15 contains moderate sex and nudity
Part 4: 15 contains strong sex and nudity
Part 5: 12A contains suicide references
Part 6: 12A contains one use of strong language
UK Release Date: 6 May 2005 (Limited Release - London)
UK Distributor

Synopsis

HEIMAT 3 is the third cycle of EDGAR REITZ'S monumental HEIMAT series, which premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. The third HEIMAT completes the trilogy and brings together particularly the settings of HEIMAT 1. It follows the new generation of the Simon family, in a period spanning from 1989 to 2000. Germany changed dramatically in this period, and Reitz cleverly reflects the historical events through the characters' lives.

The two film sequels HEIMAT and HEIMAT 2 are recognised as milestones in the history of television. This is due largely to the literary character of their narratives and to their focus on people. The characters in this epic story of a total of 42 hours duration are more than mere cinematic fictions. Their realism and involvement in historical events have led to their being compared with the great characters of world literature.

The secret of the success of the HEIMAT sequels is that they tap into our collective experiences and memories. In the first sequel it was the memory of a rural past, which plays so large a role in life in the towns. With HEIMAT 2 it was the student years of the Sixties which opened up a flood of exciting memories for the many people who lived through them. With the fall of the Wall and the events that followed, "Heimat" suddenly became an issue again: HEIMAT 3 tells of the climate of disruption during the time following the fall of the Wall and the dreams that were dreamt in the East and in the West, and which more or less came true. The actors from the previous series have taken up their parts again to deliver another engaging performance, along with the many new actors who are introduced. The parts are beautifully linked together by a rich musical score by Nikos Mamangakis and Michael Riessler.

Narrator and director Edgar Reitz sees himself as an observer of ambiences and of people in the flow of contemporary history. Joining him as co-author is Thomas Brussig, a partner who, by virtue of his origins and his literary experience of the East, guarantees the authentic rendering of the East Germans, the stories of their lives, their way of thinking and talking.
"When the world is without borders and places become arbitrary, then 'Heimat' is no longer an expression of place, but has become an expression of time. Film is the only art form able to avert the fleeting of time. Even cinema cannot stop time, but it can tell of it. Film can be Heimat." - Edgar Reitz

HEIMAT 3: A Chronicle of Endings and Beginnings, consists of the following six parts:
Part 1 The Happiest People in the World (1989) 109 mins
Part 2 The Champions (1990) 100 mins
Part 3 The Russians are Coming (1992 - 1993) 125 mins
Part 4 Everyone's Doing Well (1995) 131 mins
Part 5 Follow Me (1997) 105 mins
Part 6 Goodbye to Schabbach (1999 - 2000) 108 mins

Synopsis of The HEIMAT Trilogy: HEIMAT 3

The story begins on 9th November 1989. On the evening the Wall came down, two musicians, the conductor Hermann Simon and the singer Clarissa Lichtblau, beset by the stress of their work and their transience, meet in a West Berlin hotel. They were once lovers before losing each other in 17 years of jetting around in pursuit of success. Infected by the euphoria of the Germans and their reunification ecstasy, they rediscover their love and set off for the Hunsruck. They are drawn by a romantic timber-framed house high above the Rhine valley and decide that it is to be the centre of their restless lives from now on.

The adventures of Hermann and Clarissa, which begin with the upheaval of a reckless house renovation, draw a chain of people in their wake, including young labourers from Leipzig and Dresden, friends from Berlin or Munich, as well as Hermann's relations in the Hunsruck. In addition, there are American GI families or newly settled Russian Germans from far away Kazakhstan. We meet familiar characters from HEIMAT 1, but new characters too, among whom the four young labourers from East Germany, Gunnar, Udo, Tillmann and Tobi.

In the months after the fall of the Wall they discover a world of new opportunities and, touchingly, try to carry out their plans in the ensuing years. The older generation includes Hermann's brothers: Anton, well known as the patriarch and the founder of the Simon Optical Works, and Ernst, adventurer, pilot and art collector.

The stories involving the lovers Hermann and Clarissa - sometimes at close quarters but also at the periphery of their struggles with love - are colourfully woven together and frequently follow the often irrational logic of real life. The stories tell of love, success, sickness, death, birth and family ties which refuse to be broken despite the independence of the modern characters. HEIMAT 3 thus reflects a small universe with all the significant changes of the times - the new mobility, the triumph of computers and telecommunications, the changes in jobs, families, the new way of life. The old timber-framed house which Hermann and Clarissa have lovingly restored acts as the hub for the stories. It is here that conflicts are resolved. From here the young people start off in life and it is to here that everyone returns to greet the new millennium on the New Year's Eve with which HEIMAT 3 closes.