Let's just blurt it out: Cloud 9 features old people having sex.
That's the best-known thing about this intense movie from director Andreas Dresen. Cloud 9 (Wolke Neun) does indeed tell the story of a love triangle involving a woman in her 60s and two men in their 70s. But the elderly naked bodies (in all their wrinkled and sagging glory) are just window dressing -- Cloud 9 is an ageless tale of passion.
Inge (Ursula Werner) is a plump, sunny woman in her 60s who works as a seamstress. She races to finish a pair of trousers and deliver them to their owner, Karl (Horst Westphal). He looks pleasantly surprised to find Inge at his door, and there's an obvious attraction between the two of them. Within minutes, acres of geriatric underwear are coming off.
But Inge, as it happens, is married. Her husband of 30 years, Werner (Horst Rehberg) is very much in the picture, and they have a bond that can't be easily broken. They share their lives and their grandchildren and their various interests, from her choir group to his fascination with trains.
And then there's their active sex life.
What would have prompted Inge to be so impetuous with Karl?
She struggles with that question. When Karl turns up at her house, pretending he needs some sewing done, Inge sends him away. When he phones, she puts him off. But Karl persists, and before long, the two of them are having an affair.
Worse yet, Inge is falling in love.
At one point in the movie, Inge stands naked in front of a mirror, examining her body as if she'd never seen it before. What will happen now that desire has suddenly landed in the middle of her life?
It changes everything.
She feels guilty about Werner. She feels terrible joy and terrible conflict, all at once. She confides in her adult daughter, who advises her to continue the affair but keep it a secret.
But Inge can't be dishonest. She has a choice to make between Karl and Werner, and she handles the dilemma the best way she knows how.
Cloud 9 is downright Alice Munro-ish in what it has to say about the very different ways in which men and women move through the world.
Much is made of the contrast, for example, between Inge's emotional sort of logic and Werner's anger.
The movie is wonderful to look at -- all bright and open and full of natural light in the scenes that feature Karl and Inge together -- and the visuals underline the transformative power of love. (Although the ending of the movie is oddly ambiguous.)
As always, Dresen has turned his camera on ordinary people leading ordinary lives, but as the tiny details build into a complete, three-dimensional portrait, one is, finally, loath to leave their company.
Cloud 9, which is playing at Canada Square, is in German with English subtitles.
(This film is rated 18-A)
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