By Erin Free
“Manni…you’re not dead yet,” says the punky, spunky Lola, a casually gorgeous hipster with a lot more heart and spirit than may at first appear obvious, and she’ll spend the whole film proving her point. German filmmaker, Tom Tykwer’s stunning cult favourite appears to be more about its own florid style (the film is a wildly original, eye-burning collision of colour, black-and-white, animation, and other forms of visual/aural madness) than any real sense of characterisation. It’s remarkable then that Lola – as played with reams of bundling energy and charisma by the brilliant Franka Potente – is so engaging, indelible, and unforgettable. Like a comic book character or video game avatar, her appearance (vivid, bright red hair; fatigue pants; a tattoo scrawled across her flat stomach) is instantly eye catching and designed for highly visual action. And action is what Lola is all about.
The film begins with a blare, as Lola gets a phone call from her vaguely criminal boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who informs her that he’s left a bag containing 100,000 deutsche marks on the subway, from where it’s been stolen. Manni must deliver the money at noon to a gangster. If he doesn’t front with the cash, he’ll be killed. Fevered and desperate, Manni plans to rob a bank to get the money. Lola knows that Manni’s not capable of pulling a bank job and could end up dead, so she races out to find the money…somehow, anyhow, somewhere…before it’s too late. In a freaky twist, the film then shows Lola trying to achieve her goal three times, playing like a whirlwind cinematic video game.
Throughout this all, Lola is a vision of energised cool, bolting through the streets in a desperate effort to save her beloved boyfriend from himself. Amongst the firestorm of visuals, however, we also see her vulnerable side: one of Lola’s first ports of call to try and get the money is from her wealthy, estranged father. In the film’s most emotionally affecting scene, he turns her down flat. “I’d have never fathered a girl like you,” he says. “You’re a cuckoo’s egg.” We see the hurt in the externally tough Lola, and it only serves to make her all the more loveable.
Franka Potente’s performance as Lola is superb; while there’s not much in the way of dialogue or big, emotional scenes (she spends most of the film, well, running), this fine actress makes the character feel human amidst a barrage of cinematic trickery, and that’s no mean feat. It was also planned right from the start. “I wanted real characters who were immediately likeable, and whose love was believable,” director, Tom Tykwer, has said of Run Lola Run. “With Franka and Moritz Bleibtreu, you wish from the very beginning that they are a couple, and that they stay a couple.”
