Film Review: Liebestraum (1991)

“Style over substance”, the dominant ethos in late 20th Century Hollywood, benefited plenty of film makers that gave art film credentials to genre films that would have otherwise been seen as underwhelming and mediocre. One such example can be found in Liebestraum, 1991 thriller drama written and directed by Mike Figgis.

The protagonist, played by Kevin Anderson, is Nick Kaminsky, architecture professor who comes to the small town in order to visit Lilian Andersson (played by Kim Novak), biological mother he had never met and who is dying in local hospital. While going through town he also notices an old dilapidated department store building that he fascinates him with its unusual form of architecture. He also meets an old friend Paul Kessler (played by Bill Pullman), a real estate developer who is going to demolish building and replace it with modern shopping centre. Paul invites him to his home where he meets his beautiful and neglected wife Jane (played by Pamela Gidley) to whom he would feel instantly attracted. While Paul leaves town on business, Jane, who is an accomplished photographer, volunteers to help him with an article about building. Nick also learns about tragic events that had happened in the department store many decades ago and that he and his mother are connected with it.

British director Mike Figgis made very good Hollywood debut with slick and stylish police thriller Internal Affairs. His next Hollywood project, however, less of a thriller and more of drama. Figgis is here obviously less interested in plot and characters, and more in creating dark and foreboding atmosphere, very much like Alan Parker had created in Angel Heart, another film about protagonist discovering some dark secrets about its past. The biggest influence on Figgis, however, appears the person that was at the moment of production the most popular name among trend-following cinephiles – David Lynch. Liebestraum in many ways resembles Lynch’s cult television series Twin Peaks, not only because of Figgis’ own music score that resembles Angelo Badalamenti’s, but also because of the script that mixes motives of small town’s dark secrets being revealed and characters being connected like in the soap opera. Figgis has good cast at his disposal, but some of them are underused, like the very bland Kevin Anderson and Hollywood veteran Kim Novak in her last role. Pamela Gidley, one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation, works very hard and gives strong erotic dimension to her role, but her efforts are also wasted because of lack of chemistry with Anderson. Bill Pullman as a character closest to conventional villain, appears too little in the film to have the proper impact. Figgis, who unlike Lynch didn’t have a luxury of building plot and characters through thirty hours on television, is forced to rush things up leading to utterly disappointing and confusing finale. Fans of Twin Peaks would probably notice Alicia Witt, child actress and music prodigy that played Gretchen Hayward in the series and who appears in small cameo before playing piano during end credits, just like in the one of the episodes of television series. This small detail would probably mean little to most of the regular audience, which isn’t likely to find Liebestraum to their liking.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7