A decade ago, when Thomas Quasthoff, one of the giants of music in
our time, made his first major concert appearances, reviews invariably
mentioned that he is just a bit over 4 feet tall and severely disabled.
Until the CBS "Sixty Minutes" segment appeared, providing public knowledge
of Quasthoff's appearance, there was justification for these extra-musical
reports.

Then, as the years went by, coverage focused exclusively on the music,
properly enough, not dwelling on the singer's unimaginable physical
challenges.

At this point, as most others, I tend to take the "TQ Story" for granted,
were it not for today's US premiere of an extraordinary film, Eike
Besuden's "Verruckt nach Paris." Although a full-length feature film,
"Crazy About Paris" feels like a documentary, one disabled man and a
partially retarded woman and man escaping from an institution and having
a hilarious adventure in Paris.

This is a movie totally different from Petter Naess' otherwise wonderful
"Elling," in which actors Per Christian Ellefsen and Sven Nordin
"impersonated," however well, the "different people" of the film, just
as actors were featured in "Charly," "Rain Man," "I Am Sam" and so many
others.  But it's not a documentary either.

It was something of a shock when Besunden spoke about his film in
the Castro Theater, after the screening in the "Berlin & Beyond" festival,
explaining that the three protagonists - Hilde, Philip and Karl - were
*not* playing themselves, but rather acted (and partially improvised)
their roles outlined in the script written by the director.  Where
did Besunden find them?  As he was directing documentaries about
special-assistance institutions in Bremen, he came on a performance by
the patients of Goethe's "Faust," a production he found "phenomenal,"
and there were his stars, willing and very much able.

Frank Grabski, who plays Philip, is from the same German Thalidomide
generation as Quasthoff.  He is taller than the singer, but has the same
undeveloped arms, and only one leg, which must support him and also serve
as substitute for hands.  In the film, when his wheelchair is destroyed,
he continues with the trio's traveling adventures, hopping on his one
leg.

Paula Kleine's Hilde is a force of nature, as the cook with 25 hats
she talks to individually every day, as a character of pure, affecting
goodness.  Wolfgang Gottsch, as Karl, is somewhat of a crazy genius,
with a few moments of brilliance, but mostly just trying to cope with
the confusion and difficulties of practical life.

"Crazy About Paris" has been shown only at the last Berlinale and it has
no commercial distributor at this point.  If it comes to a festival or
special screening near you, don't miss it.  (Scheduled on Jan.  18 in
Point Arena, CA; see www.arenacinema.com/berlin.htm.)

Don't let the subject put you off.  You would be very wrong to think
that you know what "Crazy About Paris" is "like." If you avoid "Talk
to Her" because it's "about" somebody in coma or pass on "25th Hour"
because it's "about" a drug dealing in New York, you'll miss two
great movies.  "Crazy About Paris" is very much like Quasthoff: you
see something "unusual" and hard-to-take at the beginning, but you end
up with a heartwarming, beautiful memory, and first-hand knowledge of
how able the "disabled" can be.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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