Compelling ‘Winter Sleepers’ Puts Lives on a Slippery Slope

Tom Tykwer’s “Winter Sleepers,” made just before “Run Lola Run” put him on the map, finds us peering down at a skiing village nestled in the mountains of Germany. The camera darts in and out of snowy crevasses and peeks into the homes of people whose lives are about to impinge upon one another in wholly unpredictable and drastic ways. When you consider that Tykwer’s Lola was a young woman who literally ran throughout the movie, you will not be surprised that Tykwer opens this picture with such swiftness and economy.

No sooner has he eavesdropped on various lives than he stages the incident that sets the story in motion. A local farmer, Theo (Josef Bierbichler), with a horse trailer attached to his station wagon, loses control of his vehicle on an icy road. He ends up having to shoot his badly injured horse--and discovers that his little daughter had sneaked into the trailer and now lies on the roadside in a coma. As his daughter hovers between life and death, her father can get no one to believe that the accident occurred because he was forced to swerve to avoid another car. We know the truth of what happened--and that Theo is himself not telling the whole story.

“Winter Sleepers,” which Tykwer and Anne-Francoise Pyszora adapted from her novel “Expense of Spirit,” offers a riveting depiction of the classic collision of fate and character, with geography in this instance playing a crucial role--all those icy roads and slippery slopes. However, this stunningly kinetic and elegant film, shot in Cinemascope, leaves us feeling that we are more at the mercy of quirks of fate than we may care to acknowledge. Reinforcing this feeling is the film’s view of people as being more benevolent than malevolent in their actions.

In this light, you could say that everything in the film happens the way it does because Rebecca (Floriane Daniel), a pretty translator, is so glad to see her handsome ski instructor lover Marco (Heino Ferch) that she rushes him to bed before he can even close the door of his brand-new luxury car, making it ripe for theft. Yet it scarcely seems fair to blame all that occurs on Rebecca, and, in fact, Tykwer, taking the ironic long view, does not. But there’s no denying the domino effect of that car door being left open--and how unaware we can be of a chain of events that shapes our destiny.

*

Rebecca’s relationship with Marco is volatile. He lives up to the image of the virile, womanizing ski instructor yet is wildly jealous of Rebecca. Insecure, his reliance on his looks to hit the financial jackpot so far has proved elusive. In the meantime, Rebecca’s roommate Laura (Marie-Lou Sellem), a nurse and aspiring actress, has become attracted to the local theater projectionist Rene (Ulrich Matthes), an intense man who relaxes in the presence of this lovely and intelligent young woman.

“Winter Sleepers’ ” title may refer to its characters’ tendency to drift without anchor. Sleepers, however, is also the name of a popular local tavern. For Tykwer, love is the anchor, and he has said his film is “about love in the face of impossible circumstances.” It progresses stylishly in compelling fashion, with much detached compassion and an equal amount of mordant humor.

The film has terrific vitality, from its astute ensemble performances to Frank Griebe’s dynamic, expressive camera work with striking use of color to establish mood; Griebe went on to shoot the even more kinetic “Lola.” The film is also richly enhanced by a subtly seductive and insistent score composed by Tykwer with Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil. Next from Tykwer: “The Princess and the Warrior,” an epic love story starring Lola herself, Franka Potente.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: sex and nudity, complex adult themes.

‘Winter Sleepers’

Floriane Daniel: Rebecca

Heino Ferch: Marco

Ulrich Matthes:Rene

Marie-Lou Sellem: Laura

Josef Bierbichler: Theo

A WinStar Cinema release of a Bavaria Film International presentation of an X-Filme production. Writer-director Tom Tykwer. Producer Stefan Arndt. Cinematographer Frank Griebe. Editor Katja Dringenberg. Music Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil. Costumes Aphrodite Kondos. Production designer Alexander Manasse. In German, with English subtitles. Running time: 2 hours, 4 minutes.

Exclusively at the Cecchi Gori Fine Arts, 8556 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 652-1330; the Town Center 4, Bristol at Anton, South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, (714) 751-0594 or (714) 777-FILM (No. 086); and the Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500.