Despite its title, Four Minutes took almost a decade to create.

by Jamie Wetherbe
photo: Judith Kaufmann/Kordes & Kordes Film

German writer/director Chris Kraus’ latest film, Four Minutes, is a fiercely expressive story packed with lasting imagery and music ranging from classic to contemporary, which has wowed audiences and critics alike. But Kraus’ second film-directing effort, which took home two German Oscars (for best film and best actress), was almost a decade in the making.

“It was difficult to bring this film alive,” he explains. “It took so long to get the money to do this. People asked, ‘Why should anyone see the film? It’s not interesting’ … It’s a very personal story, not a boy-meets-girl film.”

Rather than boy-meets-girl, German film Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) tells the story of Traude Krüger (played by award-winner Monica Bleibtreu), a repressed and withered piano instructor haunted most of her life by seeing her female communist lover hanged by the Nazis during World War II.

After teaching at a women’s prison for more than 60 years, Traude meets Jenny von Loeben (Hannah Herzsprung), a former child musical prodigy and convicted killer, tortured by her self-destructive temper and the memories of abuse at the hands of her own father. Music becomes their unlikely, yet powerful, bond—each is looking for a way out of her imprisoned life, and an uneasy mentorship develops as Traude grooms Jenny for a prestigious piano competition.

“I have always believed that motivation is just another word for talent. But what if it’s different? What if someone has talent, but lacks motivation?” says Kraus when asked about his inspiration for the film. “When a story revolves around an artist, that’s a crazy premise: creating a character that could achieve anything, but aspires to nothing. Most artists, including myself, are haunted by the imagination that it could be the other way round.”

Since its release, Four Minutes has received 32 international awards, including two German Academy Awards, four 2007 Bavarian Film Awards and the Audience Award for a feature film at Frameline LGBT International Film Festival.

“We were not prepared to have that success,” says Kraus. The film, which Kraus wrote in a matter of weeks, took eight years to make it to the big screen. In addition to the lengthy process of securing funding for the film, Kraus and his team underwent a year-long quest to cast the part of the aggressive and traumatized, yet musically gifted, Jenny. “I first looked for musicians to be actresses, but that didn’t work,” Kraus recalls. “It’s so hard to play this role because of the nuances.”

The role went to newcomer Herzsprung, who underwent half a year of intensive piano coaching, three months of box training, plus the actress performed her own stunts.

While Kraus plays “a little bit” of piano, he says he has “always been fascinated by the wildness, the power and also that inexplicable element that is at the core of all artistic endeavors.”

Kraus’ muse also came from reading an article nearly a decade ago about an 80-year-old woman who taught at a Berlin prison since 1943. Upon seeing the photographs of this old women, Kraus said he began to think, “Why would this woman devote her life to these harsh criminals? Why stay in a prison for 60 years?”

When the real-life teacher discovered that Kraus’ fictional character was gay, she almost halted the film’s production. As it turned out, says Kraus, the woman actually was a lesbian. Despite art imitating life, Kraus was able to legally prove his character was indeed fictional and could continue with production.

“For me, the story has more to do with love than sexual orientation,” he says.

Kraus worked as a journalist and illustrator before studying at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. He has been twice nominated for German Academy Awards for his screenplays. In 2002, Shattered Glass marked his feature directorial debut, winning 10 national and international awards, including two Bavarian Film Awards, the German Screenplay Award and the New Talent Award for the Best New Director.

His next project, Poll, a WW II drama about a woman who falls for a much older man, is set to start production in 2009.

Four Minutes (Vier Minuten) opens Friday, April 25 at Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills. For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.laemmle.com.