Kleidonopoulos 1

LOLA RENNT [literally meaning “Lola runs”] is a 1998 german film, internationally known as

“”, written and directed by and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as her other half, Manni. It tells the story of how Lola is trying to save her boyfriend from a life-threating situation; after not being able to pick him up after an important business meeting, Manni loses a bag containing 100,000 marks -that belongs to his boss, a crime lord- and urges Lola to help him out, because otherwise he would die. Tom

Tykwer manages to create a contemporary classic, combining archetypal notions and characters with extremely innovative film-making and story-telling.

The lavish original score was composed by Tykwer himself, along with and

Reinhold Heil, incorporating several conventional film music techniques like Eisenstein’s vertical montage and Wagner’s leitmotif. Being inventive though, they are using techno music, taking their objective to the next level. Additionally, techno music works as a cultural reference, reflecting the social scene where Lola and Manni are coming from; the obscure, underground world of the late 1990’s in , where the film is set. Besides the music, Kleidonopoulos 2 sound -like the use of clock ticking- is imperative in the film’s narrative, which includes deep philosophical questions regarding life, choices, decisions and destiny.

The title of the film alone -with the use of the verb “run”- is suggesting a sense of urgency which, subsequently, points out one of the major themes in the film; that of time. Even though time is a very abstract concept, it has a constant and universal trait; time is endless, like a spiral, continuously repeating itself. Tom Tykwer -quoting famous german football player and manager Sepp Herberger- states in the beginning of the film that “After the game is before the game”, distinguishing the cyclical nature of life. LOLA RENNT is structured like a spiral too, consisting of the repeated telling of the same story, but with a different outcome each time. This spiral notion is present throughout the film, not only in its repeating parts, but in the score, in various spiral movements of the camera, in Lola’s actual and filmic quest, in several visual representations, in the location Lola and Manni are meeting [Spirale Bar] and even in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo references too.

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The film is fragmented into seven distinct parts:

1. pre-opening title sequence + opening credits

2. prelude

3. RUN I

4. interlude I

5. RUN II

6. interlude II

7. RUN III

The first part is very short but striking, setting the mood of the film and pointing out the concepts that are going to be developed. The repetitive sound of a clock ticking builds into the music, consisting of a series of repetitive electronic beats which climax when the title is shown and the animated opening credits begin. One endless musical theme morphing into another, all adding up to a collection of spiral music melodies. This sequence, a perfectly synchronized arrangement of all the aspects within the frame, including its composition, its music and their movements, is an apt example of vertical montage. All the layers that form the sequence are “aligned”, simultaneously triggering all of the senses under a clear correlation of the stimulants. Kleidonopoulos 4

PRELUDE

The prelude is the second part of the film, the part where we learn what happened and how

Lola is -literally- called to save her loved one, Manni. Quite interestingly, the premise could easily be characterized as noir, since Manni is working for an underground criminal and on the day of an important deal, everything goes wrong. Lola, being some sort of post femme fatale, is the one who makes the initial mistake which leads to the ominous spiral of actions.

She does not pick him up where they had said, but it was not her fault; her moped got stolen while she was buying cigarettes. Although she was trying to reach Manni in a taxi, in the wrong part of the city, he decided to use the subway. Through a series of unfortunate events, Manni loses a bag containing 100,000 marks that has to be delivered to his crime boss; the bag is found and kept by a homeless man Manni encountered in the subway. The twist that deviates from the classic noir narrative is the fact that Lola, being this post character, decides to take control and fix the situation. Interestingly, the woman is the one who will step in and save the day, while the man is panicking, “trapped” in a phone booth, not knowing what to do. Kleidonopoulos 5

At this point, it is imperative to point out the expressive choice of names of the characters.

Lola + Manni. So archetypal both, so dual. Literally, and metaphorically.

Considering the pop culture-saturated background of the movie,

and of course the time of its release, it is safe to assume that

Lola can be considered a name with a negative connotation to it.

A name for an adventurous woman who might get herself in

trouble. Nabokov’s Lolita has even added a certain perversely sexual appeal to it. But this name, besides conveying a stereotypical femme fatale, it has a deeper meaning. Lola derives from the name Dolores, which is spanish means sorrows.

While Lola has many sorrows, she also has another attribute. In sanskrit, Lola is a male name

[Lo-luh] and it means "moving to and fro", which is what the emancipated Lola is doing throughout the film. Additionally, the [repeating] sound of the two-syllable pronunciation of the word is clearly suggesting an endless game.

Manni’s name is equally, if not more, interesting and

meaningful. Usually, the name Mani, either the german version

of it -diminutive of Manfred, or the more significant sanskrit -yet

again- version, is spelled with one n. While Manfred is an epic name used by Lord Byron in an epic poem meaning “man of peace”, Mani is a mystical sanskrit name meaning “jewel”, but could also refer to the phallus. While Manni has all this features, he is spelled with two “n”. Personally, I believe that it is simply stating the obvious, since man in german is spelled mann.

Besides setting a very elaborate context and giving depth to the characters, this sequence is very well structured as far as the music and sound is concerned. As the majority of the film, Kleidonopoulos 6 this part is heavily scored with constant music playing in the background. The accumulative combination of endless riffs, one leading into the other, goes seamlessly from the opening credits to the first scene and is suddenly interrupted by a red telephone ringing. The first moment of silence is right before Lola and Manni talk for the first time.

While they are telling each other what happened there is still tense and mysterious music playing; recurring themes which seem to be climaxing just because one is stitched after another, adding to the stressful advent of the story. In several moments though, distinct sounds like keyboards or percussion is used to set a specific tone or suggest an idea. The music builds up to a very loud conversing between the main characters and, ultimately, Lola screaming. Then deafening silence again. That is the point where she decides that the option of destiny is not enough and takes fate into her own hands. She is going to try and save her other half. The phone call continues in silence, with Lola telling Manni that she would meet him in twenty minutes and Manni telling Lola that if she did not succeed he would rob a near supermarket, but is interrupted by the sound of his phone card credit ending. The prelude ends where Lola embarks on her mini, epic, spiral journey.

RUN I

The first run begins. Lola leaves her mother

at her father’s home, and is heading to her

father [presumably at his office] to ask for

help. She is running as fast as she can,

through various urban sites in Berlin. The score is a constant build-up, with multiple repetitive themes building up and constructing a complex composition, which is custom made for the first run alone. The theme song of the Kleidonopoulos 7 film starts playing as well, called “Believe” and performed by Franka Potente herself. The music, along with the fast-paced filming, slows down -still being tense though- and after some mellow vocals the scene is cut abruptly, only to establish new characters.

Tom Tykwer used 35mm film to shoot all the scenes involving Lola and Manni, but used video for the rest. In this case, it is Lola’s father having an intimate talk with his co-worker and mistress. The image lacks the previous crispness and there is no music. It is clear that

Lola is going to interrupt this discussion. The theme of this run is back on when we see Lola again, running fast and, ultimately, reaching the Bank where her father works. The music continues playing even while she is running in the Bank and, suddenly, stops when she enters her father’s office. There is clear tension in the atmosphere while Lola realizes her father’s betrayal to his family and to her, since he denies helping her. Music comes in gradually during their fight and leads up to Lola’s [second] scream and then picks up again.

Again, there is no music during crucial dialogue and her exiting the Bank; it gradually starts again when she remembered that she has limited time. This time, it is a more minimal, clean cut theme. Still repetitive, tense and correlating with the narrative though.

As soon as Lola has Manni in her sight, he turns his back on her and does not hear her calling him. He walks into the supermarket and starts robbing t. When Lola gets there -after causing some trouble- she joins Manni and helps him steal the money. Throughout this whole sequence music is like time, ubiquitous, reminding us of the pressure and the need of something to be done. The first non-score music that is playing is a sweet ballad for the criminal lovers while they are running away. Inevitably, they are surrounded by the police; when Manni throws the [red] bag with the stolen money in the air, surrendering, Lola accidentally gets shot and tragically dies. Kleidonopoulos 8

INTERLUDE I

After the first run is over and

Lola is “dead”, we see the first

interlude. A brief, yet really

intimate, encounter between

Lola and Manni, lying naked in

bed, talking. There is no music, just natural sounds like their bodies touching, a cigarette burning and their voices. The scene has a deep red filter, echoing a photography dark room, where a picture is being developed. Lola is being insecure about Manni’s love and concludes by saying she has to make a decision. The deep red filter fades out to a deep red screen which fades in to Lola’s eyes when she’s lying almost dead on the street. Music begins again, building up the tempo and leading to another scene were vertical montage is apparent. While the beats intensify, the red bag that Manni threw in the air is juxtaposed with the red telephone receiver from

Lola’s room [explicit homage to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey and the juxtaposition of the black monolith with the space station]. All the elements are impeccably correlated and both images and music have the same function, climaxing with Lola saying

STOP and the red telephone receiver hanging up, again.

RUN II

The second run constitutes a different

advent of reality, where the same

people appear and re-appear but they Kleidonopoulos 9 make different decisions and the alternate reality has a new outcome. I also has its own custom made theme too; a far darker and more aggressive one , yet still including several repetitive riffs constructing an intricate and suspenseful score. It also includes more vocals from Franka Potente.

In this option of reality, besides the musical theme being different, several other details are different throughout the scene but more importantly is the outcome of her visit to her father. Once again he is talking with his co-worker and mistress but when Lola interrupts them this time they are having a fight. Her father might not be betraying his family this time, but is still rejecting Lola, asking her to leave. Lola is infuriated and decides to destroy her father’s office before leaving. Similarly to the previous run, there is no music during important dialogues, but the rest is continuously scored.

This time though, right before she exits the Bank, she acts otherwise. Possibly pushed by her father’s disappointing attitude, she decides to rob the Bank herself. With the use of a gun the takes from a security guard she manages to take the money and escape the bank

[luckily] unharmed. She gets one step further than the first run, she gets the money!

Furthermore, she reaches Spirale Bar certain seconds earlier than she did in the first run, just enough for Manni to listen to her calling, averting him from robbing the supermarket.

Unfortunately though, the second run counteracts the first one. Manni hears Lola shouting at him and starts walking happy towards her but does not pay attention to a speeding ambulance coming from his left. The moments leading up to the crash are flawlessly orchestrated, splitting the screen in three parts, climaxing the stressful score and violently interrupting it with the brash sound of honking, the crash and then followed by complete Kleidonopoulos 10 silence. Lola watches Manni get run over by the car and die in her arms, while dramatic, soft, instrumental music is playing.

INTERLUDE II

After the second run is over and

Manni -this time- is “dead” we

see the second interlude. Lola

and Manni are shown again

during an endearing moment,

naked in bed. Like them, the scene is stripped too, with no music, just organic sounds and their dialogue. Manni is the one acting insecure in this version, with Lola reaffirming her love for him and the fact that he has not died yet. She sounds more confident than ever.

In the same way as in the first one, the red filter fades out to a deep red screen, which fades in to Manni’s eyes while he is still lying on the street. Once again, principles of vertical montage have been deployed and the score fits seamlessly the movement of the [green, this time] bag with the money Lola had in her hand falling to the ground, while juxtaposing it with an airplane crossing the sky and, ultimately, the red telephone receiver, hanging up, again; again.

RUN III

The third run seems to be the more

focused of all, where Lola seems to

know what she has to do. The theme Kleidonopoulos 11 for this run probably has the [s]lowest tempo between the three of them. It also includes another theme song, called “Wish”, also performed by Franka Potente. This time the mood of the -still repetitive- score is slightly less stressful but more optimistic, since things seem to be happening better. A strong positive clue which changes the story’s advent is the fact that the homeless man who found and kept Manni’s bag -that re-appeared in the first and second run too, but insignificantly- has a far more important role.

Even though Lola has her best run ever, she does not get at the Bank in time to see her father, who was having a discussion with his co-worker and mistress, choosing her over his family, once again. When she arrives at the Bank it is too late and she sees her father leaving. Now, she can only rely on herself. At this point, both characters receive the help of a “deus ex machina”; an unexpected positive turn of things. For Manni, it is the Tennessee

Williams-esque notion of “the kindness of strangers” that helps him. A blind woman who lets him use her phone card shows him the answer to his problem; the homeless man, passing right in front them on a bicycle, with Manni’s bag with him. Manni starts running as fast as he can after him, eventually catching him and, after threatening him with a gun, he gets the bag back. For Lola, it is the fact that right after nearly getting hit by a bus, she looks

up and realizes she is

outside of a casino [in

which one of the walls

is decorated with a

replica of the painting

Kim Novak is obsessed

with in Vertigo]. Kleidonopoulos 12

As we all know, fortune favors the bold, and since Lola had nothing to lose, she could win everything. The tempo drops drastically when Lola enters the casino and while she is there we can only listen to a discreet, yet always present and repetitive, theme in the background; hibernating, leading up to her first win. The theme continues till she plays again, when a more intense beat is introducing her [third] glass-shattering scream, which covers every other sound, suggesting her strong voice; literally and symbolically. Her will is practically driving the roulette ball, choosing her destiny, making her win big.

During the final part of the third run the music changes substantially and from multipart techno recurring themes it transforms into a simple -tribal almost- percussion beat, approaching the musical narrative of the film from a different angle, and remaining much more minimal. The score ultimately becomes very gentle, but still using chimes to maintain a repetitive and suspenseful theme. Additionally, some ethnic male vocals are being used.

Lola arrives late at the appointment but Manni is not there either. A few moments later she sees him getting out of his crime boss’s car, looking happy and confident. When he approaches her she is startled, but has a happy expression on her face. Manni, still in shock

too, but at the same time

relieved, asks Lola what is

in the [golden this time!]

bag in her hand. The movie

ends with a sense of

wonder in Manni’s face

and a slight smile in Lola’s. Kleidonopoulos 13

LOLA RENNT is a film that deals with universal issues and, ultimately, it is romance that is fueling this adventure. What makes it so special, though, is the way it was structured. Not only audio-visually, as far as the film-making, the editing and the meticulously dialectic use of sound and music, but as far as the actual story and characters are concerned too. While the story revolves around two fatal lovers, based on traditional -yet reformed- models, it also involves several other aspects that distinguish a sense of intertwined singularity; the concept that even though every person might have their own path, the intersection and unification of their trajectories can lead to unpredicted consequences.

Tom Tykwer seems to be deconstructing the filmic narrative as well as the notions of fatality and free agency. The main theme of endless, cyclical time, along with the idea of a spiral, are vividly conveyed through the infinite re-telling of the same story, accentuated by numerous details that reaffirm it. Simultaneously though, Lola is not a typical character that accepts the inevitability of destiny. Lola, although running in circles, each time has the option of choosing her own path; she decides her own destiny.

Even though the premise has certain film noir elements, Lola and Manni are not entirely doomed characters. During their incessant voyage, although they might be “condemned” to follow a downward spiral forever, at the same time they take multiple chances, until they reach their utopic happy ending.

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Works Cited

Lola Rennt, Dir. Tom Tykwer. Perf. Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu. Sony Pictures Classics,

1998. DVD. http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/runlolarun/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run_Lola_Run http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_%28given_name%29 http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Lola.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_%28name%29 http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/meaning_of_Mani.html http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Manfred