Paradise: Hope

2013 "Beyond darkness... beyond desolation... lies the greatest danger of all."
6.7| 1h32m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 22 February 2013 Released
Producted By: Tatfilm
Country: Germany
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Her mother in Kenya, 13-year-old Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp set in the Austrian countryside. Between workouts and nutrition classes, pillow fights and first cigarettes, she falls in love with a doctor 40 years her senior.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Ulrich Seidl

Production Companies

Tatfilm

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Paradise: Hope Audience Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
paul2001sw-1 Ulirch Seidl's 'Paradise' trilogy focuses on female unhappiness: the first two movies were almost unwatchably painful, as they charted their protagonists' unfortunate plights and self-harming behaviour. The third film is not quite so gloomy, although its title 'Hope' is almost certainly meant ironically, but there is hope here, if only because it's younger characters still have the chance to turn around their lives. Equally, the film's purpose seems a little less clear than its predecessors: some overweight, but basically normal teenagers attend a weight-loss camp, where they face a measure of abuse from the adults who run it. The most poignant moment in the film comes when the lead character, the daughter of the protagonist in the first film, desperately calls her mother (who we know to be trapped in her own form of hell), a sign of a human bond that has hitherto not been revealed. Overall, it's still hard to know what to make of the trilogy, except as a series of observations on quite how hard it is to make meaningful connections with those around us.
petarmatic We find out that Anna Maria has a niece and that she is a daughter of the women sex vacationing in Kenya. So trilogy starts to make sense.Girls in their teens. The fat once. Fighting with pillows and talking about sex. But then the hairy Guy comes to train them and teach them how to try to loose fat. ;) I think that sending girls to the village is an idiotic thing, but girls who escaped, and went to a night club, dancing girls really gives us HOPE! I find this film weaker link of the other two. Especially the second one. Faith. Glaube. So powerful, that this one looks weaker. But it should not be underestimated. It should be watched together with other two. Very powerful trilogy!
OJT Paradise: Hope is about 13 year old Melanie, which is sent on diet camp in the Austrian mountains, while her mother is on sex vacation in Kenya.The third installment of the Paradise trilogy by Austrian Ulrich Seidl is not as great as the first two think. Still it's both interesting and funny, as an odd view of Austrian life. All film's are connected, as they are all about three persons in the same family, still they can without any problem be seen as individual films. But this, which I find the least interesting, is more interesting, if you think if the trilogy as a whole.The three film's really worth a good discussion, and for a film club this is really something to enjoy. The films are all very realistic, and all are rising questions, without giving any answers. All the films balances ethical questions. What do we think about this, and that? It could all happen, not only in Austria, but elsewhere as well. Lines to cross, or not. Humans seeking out, trying, doing strange things, searching for either hope, God, emotions, recognition, satisfaction, life, entertainment... We could go on...It's also interesting, this film as both a trilogy and as in it self, that it balances right and wrong with enjoyment/fun and sadness/tragedy, with seriousness and the comic of it all. It's a slice of life, of struggling with our demons. Seidel balances well. Keeps away from real controversy, but more than once approaches the nasty dilemma, but it's always terminated before it's getting really serious.All films are kept in the same style, obviously, though filmed in very different environment. Slow, dwelling pictures, but never without any reason. The camera is still, often in a not to distant view, clinical, bleak. Still fresh and actually pastel. Probably not without reason, still not sure why.Seidel is another very interesting Austrian director, which differs from the lot. Like Haneke he had a very distinct style. Very different from each other, and in a strong filming language. Simply interesting. I'm sure this trilogy will be seen upon as interesting for years to come. Deservedly so.When this is only getting a 6/10 from me, as opposed to the better ratings for the first two, this is due to the lesser interesting and driving plot. It fades out without giving a real impression, and a small disappointment lingers, since the first was so good. Paradise: Love was interesting in any levels. If thus bad. Er the first, and he first the last, it would have given a greater impact. Maybe that is what Seidl wants us to discover. If I am to watch the three films again, I surely would reverse the trilogy, and try to discover if there's more to it than I saw during the first watch.
Sindre Kaspersen Austrian screenwriter, producer and director Ulrich Seidl's fifth feature film which he co-wrote with screenwriter Veronika Franz and co-produced, is the last part of his partly theological Paradise trilogy which was preceded by "Paradise: Love" (2012) and Paradise: Faith" (2012). It premiered In competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2013, was shot on location in Austria and is a Austria-Germany-France co-production which was produced by producers Philippe Bober and Christine Ruppert. It tells the story about a 13-year-old girl named Melanie who whilst her mother named Teresa is on vacation in Kenya is taken to a diet camp by her aunt named Anna Maria where she befriends a girl named Verena and takes a liking to a doctor.Precisely and statically directed by European filmmaker Ulrich Seidl, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints though mostly from the main character's point of view, draws a heartrending portrayal of a girl's experiences whilst participating in a residential program. While notable for its naturalistic milieu depictions, distinct production design by production designers Andreas Donhauser and Renate Martin, cinematography by American cinematographer Edward Lachman and Austrian cinematographer Wolfgang Thaler and use of colors, this somewhat character-driven and dialog-driven story about friendship and hope depicts a mindful study of character where the rare humor occurs as a result of the at times rhythmic and subtle continuity.This humane, involving and somewhat surreal sequel which is set mostly at a weight loss resort in Austria and where an adolescent girl begins looking for the same thing that her mother is looking for in Kenya, is impelled and reinforced by its cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, colorful characters, sparse dialog and the reverent and commendable acting performances by actress Melanie Lenz in her debut feature film role, Austrian actor Joseph Lorenz and actress Verena Lehbauer. A minimalistic, characteristic, sociological and atypical coming-of-age drama where Ulrich Seidl's dystopic universe which may not be for all tastes and where he has gone to the extremities of humanity with a bittersweet, realistic and somewhat bleak though far from melancholic point of view comes to an end.