Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #197967 in DVD
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: German
• Subtitled in: German

From The New Yorker
Two damaged people-a sweet-tempered nurse (Franka Potente) who lives and works in a psychiatric ward and a surly tough guy (Benno Fürmann) mysteriously waylaid by sadness-are drawn together, seemingly by fate. But isn't fate just another name for an overlapping pattern of need and desire? Writer-director Tom Tykwer, who earlier made "Run Lola Run," works less kinetically this time. He varies the tempo: there are meditative passages punctuated by abrupt outbreaks of emotion-a mesmerizing new style that draws us into mysteries in an intuitive rather than explicit way. A strange, accomplished, and, finally, touching romantic drama. In German. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

This movie is among the top five ever made
"Princess" triggered the old water works, by no means an easy feat with me. I was in Blockbuster recently and the checkout guy told me I was renting out my 500th video. That made me feel vaguely ashamed, considering that most movies are junk. Every once in a while though, we discover a gem that justifies all the crapola that insults our intelligence. This is one such gem. Look at my other reviews; I don't hand out five stars all that often. Instead, I usually trash movies, as most of 'em deserve.

Besides the very moving scenes that will raise goosebumps on anybody with a pulse, what I love about this film is the originality and meticulous care and planning that went into every aspect. I have never seen a movie remotely like this. The language barrier (German) was rapidly overcome by the expressive acting, so universal that a person of any land can understand. The nurse (the same actress who played in "Run, Lola, Run", a good film also) is easily among the best actresses in the world.

[WARNING-PLOT ELEMENTS REVEALED IN THIS PARAGRAPH.] In a nutshell, a thief saves the life of a nurse during a traffic accident. Then he exits from her life. After her recovery, she returns to her rather boring passionless life at a psychiatric hospital, but she cannot overcome her longing for this mysterious man. Next begins her struggle to find, and once finding, to win over this indifferent, hostile warrior who is tormented by nightly visitations from a dead girlfriend.

Now I will place a little caveat here. I loaned this out to a Mormon acquaintance and all she could say was how horrified she was that the nurse performs a sexual act which she judged gratuitous. If that sort of thing bothers you, definitely avoid. Look at Linda Linguvic's review below, and contemplate the typical female aversion to non-conformity, to anything out of the ordinary not produced by market-tested formula. She is a "Top 50" reviewer as I write this, so obviously many people share her "aversions" to "strange" movies. I am only a "top 32,000" reviewer and receive a large proportion of "Not Helpful" votes from people who disagree with me. But this movie made me cry, and I can count the movies that do that on one hand, and I have watched thousands.

If Hollywood's formula drivel leaves you cold, and you like Romance, then give this German gem a spin.

Beautiful...
I never saw the thrill of 'Run Lola Run.' To me, it was trying a little too hard to be hip, and not really succeeding.

'Princess and the Warrior,' however, is a different story. Both visually breathtaking and thought provoking, the film brings up questions about love, death, and destiny. Franka Potente is absolutely stunning in her role as a sheltered nurse who pursues the man who saved her life . . . and who appears in her dreams.

Many people are reluctant to watch a foreign film, uneasy with having to read and watch at the same time. Yet when the foreign film is excellent, something magical happens. You forget that you're reading at all.

'Princess and Warrior' is one of those films.

Who says a movie can't do "big themes?"
Is an insane asylum a valid metaphor for one's birth family? When a life-changing event takes place, how can one determine whether it is significant fate or random chance? How much courage is required to risk everything you have on a leap of faith? Does love have the power to redeem a lost and bitter soul? Whew...not exactly superficial stuff!

Treating any one of these themes with a modicum of success might bring thunderous accolades raining upon a Hollywood production but, without so much as a fanfare, German director/writer Tom Tykwer succeeds in tackling all of them by use of coincidence as a plot device and thanks to a gutsy performance by amazing actress Franka Potente, whom he also directed in Run, Lola Run.

Such big questions are usually the stuff of classic novels, not hip cinema, but Tykwer is sui generis in many ways: for example, his inventive camera shots are brilliant, as is his success with the actors.

The final image in the movie has stayed with this viewer for a long time. A second viewing held up remarkably well, too. The Princess and the Warrior is exemplary cinema.