Lola Rennt
Run Lola Run Movie Trailer. Lola (Franka Potente) receives a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), a small-time criminal who has just collected 100,000 marks cash in his most recent crime. Lola had agreed to meet Manni at the crime scene and to drive him to deliver the money to his boss, Ronnie.
However, when Lola’s moped was stolen and she failed to arrive on time, Manni took a subway train. As he did not have a subway ticket, Manni panicked when he saw ticket inspectors and fled the subway, thoughtlessly leaving the bag with the cash behind. From outside, he saw a homeless man examining the money bag as the train departed.
Manni calls Lola from a phone booth and tells her that unless he raises 100,000 marks to give Ronnie within 20 minutes, Ronnie will kill him. Manni also tells Lola of his plan to rob a nearby supermarket. Lola implores Manni to wait and promises to find the money. She decides to ask her dad (Herbert Knaup), who is a bank manager, for help.
After this telephone call, the rest of the film is divided into three runs by Lola, in each of which she tries to obtain the money and save Manni. Each run starts from the same situation, but develops differently and has a different outcome. Each run has brief flashforward sequences that show how the lives of the people that Lola bumps into develop after the encounter.
Lola’s First Run
Lola hangs up the phone and starts running (in an animated sequence) down the staircase of her apartment, past a punk with a dog, and (back in live action) through the streets of Berlin towards her father’s bank and she collides with a woman pushing a baby carriage, who is shown to later steal a baby after having lost custody of her own. Continuing, Lola runs alongside a cyclist who offers to sell her his bike, which she refuses; a flash-forward shows him being robbed on his bike but later marrying a nurse from the hospital in which he recovered.
Lola then causes a car crash, which involves her father’s colleague, Mr. Meier, and three men in a white BMW. As Lola arrives at the bank, she passes a banker shown later to be paralyzed in a car accident, then killing herself shortly after. She meets her dad, who dismisses her request for help; he reveals that he’s not her biological father and that he plans to elope with his pregnant mistress, and then has Lola escorted out of the bank. A security guard who consoles her is shown to later suffer a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Manni uses a blind lady’s phone card to request money from a friend, only to fail. His friend says he can only give 500 marks which makes Manni angry. Lola keeps on running and ends up parallel to an ambulance that narrowly misses crashing into a glass pane carried by workmen. Lola runs on to meet Manni, who is about to begin the robbery. She shouts his name but he is unable to hear her and enters the store. Lola decides to help him. Once they obtain the money, they flee on foot but find themselves surrounded by police. Manni throws the bag with money up in the air, causing a nervous police officer to accidentally shoot Lola in the chest.
After that, Lola and Manni are shown lying in bed together. Lola recalls a conversation with Manni about their love, and whether she wanted to leave him. The movie returns to the dying Lola. Her decision was to not leave Manni, and she doesn’t want to die. The film then returns to their phone call.
Lola’s Second Run
Lola again starts running, only to be tripped by the man with the dog. Falling down the stairs, Lola injures her leg, which makes her limp. Running to the bank, she collides with the woman pushing a baby carriage, who would later win the lottery and live a luxurious life. Passing the cyclist, she accuses him of stealing the bike he is selling; a flash forward shows he became homeless. Manni, again borrowing the blind lady’s phone card, unsuccessfully tries to borrow money.
After causing another car accident between Mr. Meier and the white BMW, Lola arrives at the bank moments later; her delay due to her earlier injury allows her dad’s mistress to explain he isn’t the child’s father. Lola hears them arguing. Infuriated, Lola leaves the bank but then comes back, takes the security guard’s gun and robs the bank. A flash forward shows a banker she passes falling in love with a colleague. Lola escapes because the police mistake her for a fleeing hostage. Passing the ambulance, Lola asks for a ride, distracting the driver and causing the vehicle to hit the glass pane. Still late for the rendezvous with Manni by moments, Lola calls his name, only this time he hears her call. Manni walks towards Lola, only to be hit by the hastened ambulance, which fatally wounds him.
Manni recalls asking Lola how she would cope with his death. He believes she will have another boyfriend after his death but Lola says that he (Manni) is still alive. The film briefly returns to the present day and shows Manni refusing to die before restarting once again at the beginning of Lola’s run.
Lola’s Third Run
Lola starts running again and leaps over the punk and his dog. Running to the bank, she avoids the woman with the baby carriage, who in a flash forward joins a church and devotes herself to God. Lola also narrowly misses the cyclist; the cyclist instead offers his bike to the homeless man in a restaurant, who uses Manni’s money to buy it. Lola falls onto the bonnet of Mr. Meier’s car, preventing his collision with the white BMW, allowing him to pick up Lola’s dad on time.
Since Lola can no longer speak to her dad, she continues running until she encounters a casino. Having only 99 marks, she convinces the cashier to give her a 100 mark chip. Betting the chip on a roulette table, she wins two consecutive bets, raising 126,000 marks. The people in the casino are shocked to see her win. Approaching the ambulance from behind, Lola climbs inside as it avoids the glass pane. Recognizing the patient inside as a security guard from the bank, Lola realizes he has suffered a heart attack. She holds his hand to calm him and, to the doctor’s surprise, his heart rate immediately becomes normal.
Meanwhile, the blind lady points Manni towards the homeless man with his money, who passes on the cyclist’s bike. Manni chases him with a gun, inadvertently causing a head-on collision between the white BMW, Mr. Meier, and the man who stole Lola’s moped. Mr. Meier, Lola’s dad and the thief apparently die in the crash. Manni manages to retrieve his money, trading it for his gun.
Lola reaches the supermarket, but cannot find Manni. She shouts his name but there is no response. A little farther away, a car pulls up with Manni and Ronnie inside, who shake hands. Manni, no longer in need of the 100,000 marks, asks Lola what is in the bag she is carrying, only for the film to end in a freeze-frame on Lola’s reaction.
Run Lola Run – Lola Rennt (1998)
Directed by: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup, Nina Petri, Joachim Król, Armin Rohde, Heino Ferch, Suzanne von Borsody, Sebastian Schipper, Julia Lindig
Screenplay by: Tom Tykwer
Production Design by: Alexander Manasse
Cinematography by: Frank Griebe
Film Editing by: Mathilde Bonnefoy
Costume Design by: Monika Jacobs
Set Decoration by: Irene Otterpohl
Art Direction by: Attila Saygel
Music by: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, Tom Tykwer
MPAA Rating: R for some violence and language.
Distributed by: Prokino Filmverleih
Release Date: August 20, 1998
Hits: 507
