Four Minutes

Germany 2006, 112 mins
Director: Chris Kraus
Starring: Hannah Herzsprung, Monica Bleibtreu

Synopsis

Miss Krüger (Bleibtreu), a bitter woman in her 70s, has been teaching classical piano to prison inmates for years and takes on the challenge of training a talented but self-destructive young prisoner, Jenny.

Jenny has killed a man.

However, she is also an accomplished musician who gets the chance to represent the prison at a national competition.

But to achieve this, Krüger and Jenny must come together to overcome the prison authority, a haunted past and their resistance to one another.

Director Kraus’s engaging film was six years in the making and turned from an international co-production into a smaller German gem, with strong performances from two of Germany’s best actresses at its heart.