Der Freie Wille

Sombre, bleak but at times powerful and thoughtful drama thematising loneliness, disconnection and the paradoxes and suffering involved in the title concept. Lengthy and unrelentingly grim, but mostly executed with convincing realism and a genuine attempt at exploring difficult subject matter. Interested me somewhat more than, for instance, the Dardenne brothers films I've seen, to which this might reasonably be compared.

The silent intensity of this is incredible. There's only been a handful of films that I have found myself dreaming about days after its viewing. This is one of them. Absolutely devastating.

Difficult but powerful film with two great lead performances and a mixture of shocking scenes juxtaposed with slow mood-building stretches. The first half of the movie succeeds in pulling the viewer in and making them feel sympathy for a rapist (an impressive feat). The second half goes on a long time and doesn't seem as necessary, but is far from the worst example of "extended length" fim-making I've seen. A shorter, meatier cut might have been truly great, but this is still worth watching.

The Free Will is an exceptionally brilliant, courageous and sad film. It daringly sympathizes with a violent rapist, but recognizes the severity of rape as few other films do. While stressing the power and significance of free choice, it is at once cunningly fatalistic - like every great tragedy. The characters are written with great psychological insight, and forcefully rendered by the actors. I recommend this to everyone.

Incredible. The scene in the church is devastating, but yet as some uplifting factors. Loved it.

An uncompromisingly bleak look at the inability to change one's basic nature. It's confidently told and its characters have psychological depth.

Opens with fury, leading the thoughts to Angst, before choosing a more relaxed pace yet still maintaing an enormous intensity - one feels that anything and everything can crack any second. The film is emphatic in a way that only the best are (Stroszek etc.) and the ending is one of the most devastating I've seen in a long while.

An admirably miserable experience bolstered by exceptional writing and acting. There's something missing in the way this director incorporates it into the cinematic realm, though. He probably was more interested in a naturalistic style, but other films have conveyed this better; perhaps the length got to me in that respect; seems closer to boring than natural. It's a testament to how effective the majority of this film is that my major complaint comes off as highbrow nitpicking.

Harsh, and does manage to deal with a purely philosophical subject, on grounds which are not metaphysical or poetical at all. Nevertheless, it is ultimately quite boring.

Dieser Film war mit seiner grauenvollen Intensität für mich hart an der Grenze. Das hier gezeigte Profil eines Vergewaltigers wird von Vogel so unglaublich real gespielt, dass es einem fast Angst macht.Glasner schafft es, die hier dargestellten Figuren sich selbst zu überlassen. Ich habe selten zuvor solch eine explizite Darstellung einer Vergewaltigung gesehen. Es tut weh und schmerzt noch lange nach abschalten des TV's. Ich möchte diesen Film nicht noch einmal sehen.

This has some professional German dramaturgy where all characters serve a purpose and all pieces fall into place to form quite a shocking tragedy, peaking repeatedly with all the unruly force of its Dogma aesthetic. I kind of resent it though. I dislike the philosophical and religious weight of the double-edged title that posits the essential goodness of the rapist against the evil body he's been born into. And I distrust how intimately the film feels all of this brutality. It's an assault.

Brutal and beautiful. And brutal. And brutal.

Who gifted this man-child director the keys to this heinous Fahrzeug? The cafe/toilet scene!! How can anyone watch that and think it reflects anything other than a directors insecure determination to be edgy and shocking? This film doesnt know what it is and has no soul. The actors are probably ok, but it was impossible to tell. At least the ending was funny. Garbage

Ave Maria!

An unflinching look at a difficult subject with strong performances from the two leads. Reminiscent of the Dardennes brothers in its naturalistic style, this isn't afraid to go to the darkest places. I didn't mind the slow pace, but it could have lost a half hour runtime.

This is a 2,5 hour watch, way too long. If it was shortened to a normal length movie, I would have rated it much higher. Nonetheless, it has some impressive scenes.