The Ground Beneath My Feet aka Der Boden Unter den Fusen - Nine out of 10

The Ground Beneath My Feet aka Der Boden Unter den Fusen

Nine out of 10

On some levels, Der Boden may remind one of Up In the Air, with George Clooney and Vera Farmiga, for in both films the protagonists have to optimize profits for companies and thus reduce the payroll, fire people and consequently become seriously affected by this emotional – at least in the chronical stages – business, although the main characters in both films are charming, intriguing, strong if also troubled.

Valerie Pachner is absolutely extraordinary in the role of Lola Wegenstein, a personage with a complicated history – she has been an orphan and has had to suffer traumas in her childhood, being sent to a foster home and having an elder sister that is in her care now – a very strong appearance, hiding psychological issues, needing affection – again, think about the childhood – bracing herself to cope with a very demanding job – at one point, when she is unconscious, she repeats ‘48’ and the doctor asks about it:

-          It is in our jargon…in our  business it means going for 48 hours without a break…words to that effect

Lola has a sister, Conny, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia – the undersigned has had the opportunity to interact with someone with this condition and realized how unpredictable, strange and ultimately more than upsetting the dialogue can be…at one point, in an public place, it seemed as if this cinephile would be accused of some terrible and purely imagined things.

The heroine takes care of her sister, but not in the way the latter wants, for she keeps talking about moving out from the institution where she is supervised and where she imagines that the others are stealing from her, she is in danger and she absolutely would not spend another minute, forcing her sibling to invent explanations, an imminent move, which means that she has to sell this place and get another…

The main character is in a sometimes tumultuous relationship with Elise, who is her boss and this complicates matters – the old adage that ‘one should not mix business with pleasure’, at least in that sense, may have some merit, although I have learned from our greatest philosopher, Constantin Noica, that proverbs are not really the ‘great source of wisdom’ they are purported to be…just like in you cannot have the cake and eat it…

The sex scenes are jubilant, intense, provoking, even though they are very short and there is little nudity on show, confirming the theory exposed in a documentary called American Cinema, where one of the classics of the big screen maintained that when they show in modern movies bodies, coitus and all, the effect is counterproductive and the old films, where eroticism is suggested, rather than exposed have a much bigger impact.

Lola Wegenstein is often insecure and sometimes unstable, overwhelmed by the infernal schedule and the heavy demands of the job, for just as she keeps a straight face when she talks about job losses – explaining for instance to an employee that when they decide who must go, they do not do that on a personal basis, in response to the call made by the woman, who spoke of the child who is dependent on her, a single mother – she is tormented by her tasks.

Unaware of her sexual orientation, abusive and chauvinist, a client wants to have drinks with her at the bar, after they have lunch with another partner in the company, the consultant explains that they will maintain 85% of their workforce, people from her firm would come on sight to deal with issues, only she seems not to be one of those on the list, to the regret of the man who says:

-          ‘Some men would just put their hand under the table, between your legs…I will not…I am just saying I want to do that!’

Indeed, what a fucking gentleman…

At one point, one of Lola’s colleagues makes her sign a sheet with wrong figures and that causes a confrontation with Elise, who speaks about the fact that others have started to talk about ‘burn out’, which she says is ‘like leprosy ‘in the business of consulting…after this incident, the heroine follows the man who cheated and placed her in a terrible position so that he gets the advantage, the promotion, into the men’s room, where she stands while he urinates and then challenges over what he did.

The man arrogantly shows his penis and says that this is the advantage he has, confirming one of the themes of the film, the idea that men are still taking advantage of the old privileges, the ascendancy they still have over women, in today’s world, which still has to change so much…when they organize teams, Elise says something to the effect that we will include three men, because they give the clients a feeling of solidity…

Lola comes near a breaking point, she seems to imagine a call from her sister, while she is in a very exciting, heated intimacy with her boss, in a hotel room, and she thinks she hears Conny on the phone, mentioning that she is naked and she can see her, making the agitated, frightened woman to run only in a bathrobe, into the elevator, out of the hotel on the street to find the patient who must have escaped supervision…

When she calls the establishment, they say that this never happened, patients are not allowed to have mobile phones and the sister is asleep…

Valerie Pachner, with her phenomenal performance, makes this motion picture a remarkable one.