Feuchtgebiete

Plot synopsis:
18-year-old Helen uses vegetables for masturbation and believes that body hygiene is overrated in our society. She provokes others by saying and doing things most people would not even dare to imagine.
Helen's parents are divorced and she desperately wishes that they get back together. But her mother is depressive, hygiene-obsessed and mentally unstable, and her father is insensitive and seems not to take notice of what people around him think. She also has a quiet, younger brother whom she teases by taking his stuffed bear.
Helen feels alone and unloved in the world. Only her best friend Corinna makes her feel comfortable. Together they break many of society's taboos.
By shaving her anal hair too fast, she cuts herself badly and needs to go to hospital. There she plans to get her parents back together and charms her handsome nurse Robin, who is still suffering from a relationship with another nurse from two years before. That nurse does not get along with Helen and is still infatuated with Robin. She makes Helen's life in the hospital more difficult, but Helen and Robin fall in love during her hospital stay.
Helen's behaviour is revealed to be related to a traumatic experience she had when she was eight years old. At the end of the movie, she reflects on this trauma by saying that she finally talked to her little brother and that this was the hardest talk she ever had: still being a child, she found her mother trying to kill herself and Helen's little brother, using the gas from the oven. In the end Helen gives up on idea of bringing her parents back together and decides to go and stay with Robin.

Tags: pornographic

Review:
It gives us a lot to zero-in on with every scene, from unadulterated narration, vibrantly-colored visuals, and explicitly-detailed fetishes carried out in a manner that make the film equal parts stomach turning (for some) and irresistible for others (like myself).
If you're one of the people who thought that tampon-sharing and anal fissures were underexplored topics in contemporary cinema, or cinema in general, here's a film that gives you a nod and a thumbs up.The film stars Carla Juri in a fearless role, especially for an actress so young and so inexperienced.
She plays eighteen-year-old Helen Memel, a young woman obsessed with filth and depravity, so much so that she actively exposes her vagina to some of the most unclean places in society, like public bathrooms.
Helen's mom (Meret Becker) is a hygiene-obsessed, religious soul, constantly changing her religions and working to protect her daughter from a filthy society, and her father (Axel Milberg) is a cold, unfeeling soul who spends little time associating with her on a level that could be considered very loving.
Helen is often left to look towards Corinna (Marlen Kruse), her best friend who engages in the same kind of depravity that she adores so much.One thing Helen detests with all her heart is shaving, so naturally, she tries to conduct the act in the fastest manner possible.
In the hospital, Helen recounts a lot of her parents' marriage to us, and establishes relationships with the nurses and such, making for a film that is equal parts devoted in showing the pasts of these characters as well as the present.
With that, we also see the relationship between Helen and Corinna go beyond innocuous discussions of sex between one another to the point of the actual practice of sex and masturbation.Writer/director David Wnendt and co-writer Claus Falkenberg do their best to balance Wetlands, making it equal parts a story filled with shock and gross-out gags but also an intense, unusual character study in the most rewarding sense.
Juri plays a character so in love with the idea of being unclean and unabashedly disgusting that she owns her role, and is fiercely watchable throughout the entire film.Make no mistake, however, as Wetlands is a filthy film, arguably the filthiest released last year.
Punk-rock in its attempt to destroy our social norms and trashy in the best sense, its desire to depict a variety of perversions, fetishes, and disregard for personal hygiene in explicit detail makes it one of the most daring and awe-inspiring pieces of work in quite sometime.
I'm hesitant to bill it as satire, being that it seems to fully embrace this kind of deviant counterculture, however, I employ the rule of them I use in detecting and recommending satire with this film, and that is to see it because by fearing or condemning it without seeing it, you're only proving it correct.Starring: Carla Juri, Marlen Kruse, Meret Becker, and Axel Milberg.
If you are the type of person that will be able to look past the nudity you may be able to relate, in ways, to the main character in the movie.
BUT, if you can be truthful to yourself while watching the movie, you may find that at points during the film you are able to relate and commiserate with the main character (sometimes embarrassingly), as she narrates her sexual fetishes seamlessly alongside her narration of the state of her broken family.
As society and norms have made people question their sanity, and the "normal-ness" of what they choose to do behind closed doors, it is refreshing, exciting, and comedic to watch a film where the main character is unforgiving, open, and truthful about her sexuality and views toward life and the world..
During the recuperation, she starts a flirtatious relationship with a cute male nurse (Christoph Letkowski) and attempts to use her hospital stay to reunite her divorced parents (Meret Becker and Axel Milberg).
I was a bit disappointed that the film was directed by a man, given that it has a refreshing female point of view, but the original novel was written by a woman (Charlotte Roche), and at least one of the screenwriters was female, as well..
I found myself having a good laugh a large number of times.The main actress by the way is truly awesome, beautiful and appealing, and totally fit for the part.There is enough of a storyline to make the movie interesting besides the focus on sex and filthy things.I really totally recommend seeing this movie..
If thinking of a oozing zit makes you gag, if you get queasy at the sight of blood, if you suffer from nosocomephobia, or tomophobia, or if any mention of bodily fluids instantly offends your sensitivity, i'm sorry to say you'll never get to enjoy this beautiful little movie.If, on the other hand, you're one of those people who, like me, see Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings as a bittersweet shift from a brilliant career in gore (Braindead, Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles); if you share a morbid fascination for human anatomy (in all its scatological glory), or simply find the cultural taboos surrounding it ridiculously irrational; you'll absolutely love this movie.Trying to describe Wetlands, to me, instantly evokes Jeunet's Amélie (as weird as that may sound).
And, in that regard, Carla Juni's prodigious embodiment of her character perfectly rivals Audrey Tatou's equally spectacular performance.If you can only find the same charm in Helen's quirkiness as you did in Amélie's, and get past all the visceral lewdness, you'll find Wetlands doesn't really aim to offend or disgust, as some critics would claim.
Before I decided to see this movie I was familiar with the phenomena of the novel I even read it but only half way through, because I thought it was not leading anywhere.Most people around me say that it is pointless and everything the main character does, all her little hygiene experiments, make no sense.
It's a coming of age movie about a girl who is somewhat discovering herself and dealing with the divorce of her parents.The general package is good.
Wetlands follows the sexual and unhygienic adventures of Helen Memel, a girl who is hellbent on making her life as unhygienic as possible and labeling it as her 'experiments'.
Helen played charmingly by Carla Juri, is on an experiment with her own genitals and whatnot as she initially states in the movie.
While light at heart, the seemingly damaged 18 year old as Helen may seem it also brings out how bad she needed to be loved.Beneath the layers of her weird habits and unimaginable sexual fantasies, lies the conflict with herself and an intense yearning for her parents' reconciliation.
Right from the CG titles, her narration reminded me sorely of David Fincher's Fight Club.I for one consider myself hardened, watching movies like A Serbian Film, The Human Centipede, Martyrs, Inside, Hostel or even Salo but there were scenes in Wetlands that truly deserved to be called cringe worthy.
This is an honest film.This struck me as an acid trip from the start, but I had a couple glasses of wine (5) and stuck with it on NetflixxI ended up with this revelation--this is an honest film about the ridiculousness of life and the consistent gnawing ache of gaining a sex drive when you begin to grow.It's brilliant in its simplicity to just tell the truth exactly how it is without worrying what we will think about it.I was reminded of that awkward feeling I would get as a much younger child listening to teens talk about getting their periods and having sex.
Wetlands is the kind of movie where things like jizz-covered pizzas, anal tearings, vegetable-based masturbation, purposeful vaginal dirtying, and other taboos are thrown into our face and someone, most likely David Wnendt, wants us to accept the graphic vulgarity like we accepted There's Something About Mary or one of those eye-roll inducing Hangover films.
Wetlands dares to call itself a romantic comedy, a coming-of-age story, a family drama, and a gross-out assembly line, and if it were written by someone like Seth Rogen then maybe, just maybe, it would have turned into a sh*t covered disaster.
But Wetlands can be so appallingly gross that any form of realness seem to be covered in some STDs you caught from a smelly hippie down the street.At the center of the filth is Helen Memel (Carla Juri), a sexually rambunctious 18-year-old who spends her free time exploring her body in the most disgusting ways imaginable.
But a blossoming romance with a male nurse (Christoph Letkowski) promises better things to come in a world where sexual experimentation is the only source of feeling.Wetlands is kinda sorta scatterbrained; who knew a movie could transform from a gross-out comedy into a melancholic drama?
The best parts of the film, which are (1) the last thirty-minutes and (2) the melancholic drama components, are really, really good; finally, the gags end and deal with Helen as a human instead of an icky caricature.
I guess it's meant to shock, but the film is far too well-made to merely act as an exploitation movie.
With my last impression of Wetlands being that of the earlier mentioned "melancholic drama", though, it must have done something right, despite being one of the most disgusting films I've ever seen.
While the Film is quit open and explicit with it's depiction of Sex, Body hygiene and social taboos like hemorrhoids, i never felt it to be repulsive or shocking.
I'm very interested to see where her career will take her in the years to come.While certainly not for everybody i am convinced, that many people will have a good time watching this movie.
Women especially should be able to identify with the lead character and will recognise many of the problems and challenges she faces throughout the Film.Definitely one of the better Movies that have come out of Germany for quit some time!.
I instantly knew that this film was written and directed by men, because the female characters, including Helen, the main character, lack any credibility to me, as a woman.
If the purpose of the movie is to cause people to cut their wrists then I think it is a run away success.The story is about a girl who was raised by a cold hearted psychopathic and (as it turns out downright evil) mother and an imbecilic father.
But had some debate over saying it was an erotic related topic.Whatever, I don't know the book, because I'm kind of a movie guy, so saw it and liked it.
But still disturbs us her adaptation of the theory of everything.There are many movies where children are affected like Helen, but this film was absolutely a unique in the illustration of the sensitive topic.
Disgusting is a disgusting, if there is no problem accepting a change and variety in a movie that you usually watch and appreciate the effort, then this film could be a better entertainer.
Her hospitalization gives her an idea to reunite her parents and then she falls for nurse Robin.This German film pushes the sexual envelop with some aggressive subject matters.
Life is good in Germany, you can tell by movies like this.
When I first heard about this movie being described as shocking, perverse, disgusting even it honestly perked my curiosity because I have seen many films like that and not all to my liking.I came expecting something gross or even out of the top, there was I point I didn't know what to expect.
What I found instead was a very well made comedy about a teenager with unusual hygiene habits and dysfunctional divorced parents, an interesting well paced story with emotional and realistic characters, great performances and a great story that was well directed.What the criticism tells me is what we know so well, this film could have never in a million years be made in America.
One part is about gross phantasies with similar appeal like splatter movies, but the other part is an interesting portrait of a divorce-child with dysfunctional parents.
No real person is as stupid and gullible as the characters in this film are almost every day of their lives.It's not funny or arousing or entertaining watching an ignorant and promiscuous female go through an entire film doing extremely disgusting and hazardous things (that was clearly scripted and/or directed to shock viewers that aren't into these types of fetishes).I wasn't surprised by anything in the film because I've personally witnessed many women and men (especially German men) online that enjoy disgusting body fluids oozing out of the body whether it was their own or someone else.
She enjoyed the smell and taste of whatever was inside of her vagina.Based on how careless and nasty she was throughout the film, like walking barefoot into a flooded public restroom, rubbing her ass and vagina over a very dirty toilet; I thought she would have been hospitalized for more than just an infected hemorrhoid.Just when you think she will finally begin to grow up and act like a normal person after having surgery; she continues her obnoxious behavior in the hospital; she also flirts with a cute male nurse, constantly putting his job at risk but he didn't care because he was fascinated by her "boyish" charm of being a care free, flirtatious and slutty spirit that he wished all girls could be.The CRINGE worthy moments pollutes (in a distracting manner) this seemingly interesting Artsy foreign film, so much so that I had to force myself to watch it through to the end..
It's an epic film of sexual perversion in the best way, but is told in a very sweet and loving fashion..
Filled with orgasms, the erotic use of vegetables, sexual adventures, sharing used tampons, and even anal operations from the eyes of a female, Wnendt's artistic and stylish movie, which stars an incredible Carla Juri is not only one of the most risqué films I've ever seen, but it's handled with such care that it's end result is a beautiful and sweet film.
I just wish this movie would have a wider release here in America, but I'm sure once word- of-mouth hits the streets on this, 'Wetlands' will become an instant cult classic, and might even push the novel of the same name to the top of the charts again.We see the world through an idiosyncratic young woman named Helen (Juri), who in the opening scene, walks through a deplorable and flooded public bathroom and rubs her bare privates over the disgusting and used toilet seat, as she tells us she likes to use her vagina as a science experiment.
Helen is a free spirit who is obsessed with everything sexual.When she is not testing different kinds of fruit and vegetable to see which one makes her climax the fastest, she and her best friend Corrina (Marlen Kruse) skateboard around town, finding new ways and new people to experience intimate moments with.
And as to do a science experiment on us the audience to see if we can handle the movie, Wnendt shows us a scene between Corrina and her heavy metal drummer boyfriend that might gross out some people, but it's handled in such an innocent and humorous way that it almost becomes silly and child-like.Despite whatever sex act is thrown are way, including a scene where you'll never look at a pizza the same way again, Helen pulls off this one-of-a-kind charm and wit that exposes us to our innocent side as she tells us story after story of debauchery.
When a shaving accident puts Helen in the hospital for anal surgery, she begins to think back to her troubled childhood where we clearly see some sort of abuse going on that has turned her into the unique woman she is today – good and bad.
She takes an interest in a good looking male nurse (Christophe Letkowski) as she tells him of her past experiences, while she secretly hopes she can bring back her divorced parents together, something that every child with a broken home wants.Juri is one of the most talented actresses I've seen in the last ten years and she plays Helen perfectly.
And Wnendt's camera picks up every squish, drip, and erotic moment perfectly as he takes his cues from David Fincher's 'Fight Club' and Danny Boyle's 'Trainspotting'.It's an epic film of sexual perversion in the best way, but is told in a very sweet and loving fashion.
And in the face of all of this, the film tries to be actually relevant as it occasionally refers to the main character's wish for her parents to reunite again.
Anyway, that parents story line is, in my opinion, just a distraction from all the repulsive parts to make this movie somehow seem to have an appropriate plot that touches people.To mention more details, there is a scene involving tampons that you really do not want to see and something involving pizza as well near the end.
This movie could have been a heart-wrenching dramedy but it feels like the director did not know exactly how he wanted to put all his thoughts together.
While it felt like there was too many heavy scenes, I still left the film feeling that I hadn't gotten that deep into Helen's psyche, other than gaining the knowledge that her strange behavior stemmed from rebellion against her mother due to her parents' divorce.A good example of dramedy done well (in my humble opinion) is the television series Girls in Love, which contrasted Ellie's dreamy pursuit of boys with her melancholic memories of her mother in hospital.
I don't usually fall for foreign films, but this one takes the cake!Helen is an angsty girl who has absolutely disgusting habits she flaunts very openly.
By the time the lead character ripped herself open again, I guess for love, I wondered, "Why was this movie made?" I would like to see a movie with a similar theme without the female insanity.