Film Review: ‘Paradise’

Title: Paradise

Starring: Kostja Ullmann, Corinna Kirchhoff, Marlene Tanczik, Iris Berben, Lisa-Marie Koroll

Directed By: Boris Kunz

Original Release Date: 2023

Paradise is a German science fiction film originally released in 2023.

Set in the near future, Paradise focuses on the tech company Aeon who have developed a way to transfer years from one person to another. Aeon portrays themselves as a noble enterprise by financially rewarding those who donate years and giving those years to the people who will most benefit society. In reality the poor get poorer and the rich get younger.

The film focuses on Max (Kostja Ullmann), a recruiter for Aeon, and his wife Elena (Marlene Tanczik/Corinna Kirchhoff). When their apartment burns down and they cannot repay the loan Elena is forced to give up 40 years to repay the debt. Only Elena’s years are transferred to Sophie Theissen (Iris Berben), the CEO of Aeon. In revenge, the pair kidnap who they believe to be a de-aged Theissen (Lisa-Marie Koroll) to force her to return Elena’s years. Their plan quickly goes very wrong when they fall in with rebels and Aeon decides to fight back.

I thought Paradise started strongly with the company Aeon being an interesting concept to base the story around. We are shown a glamourous world where, because the population is now living longer, people are determined to find solutions to the bigger problems facing humanity; such as global warming. As seen through Max’s eyes, the world seems to have developed into a utopia. It is only when we see past the face that Aeon presents to everyone that we realise the imbalance and that this futuristic paradise is actually a dystopian society for many who live there. I really enjoyed the idea of a darkness hiding just behind the seemingly bright perfection of Aeon.

Where I felt the film struggled was in its second half. By this point Max and Elena are on the run and the fight between the rebels (The Adam Group who believe people should live a natural lifespan) and Aeon reaches its climax. As the film descends into a shoot-out between the two sides, with Max and Elena caught in the middle, I felt the story lost some of what made it unique during its first half as the emphasis switched focus to a more military-heavy backdrop.

That being said, Paradise did have a lot of good points – primarily the relationship between Max and Elena.

We see how Max’s attitude to Aeon and his work changes over the course of the film. He transforms from a fervent believer to feeling a jaded resentment as he watches his wife suffer and the future they wanted to have together disappear. Paradise explores how far someone would be willing to go to save the person they love. Throughout the film both Max and Elena alternate between adamantly believing they are doing the right thing to questioning whether the other would be better off alone. Kostja Ullmann as Max and Corinna Kirchhoff as Old Elena both do an excellent job at conveying the conflicting emotions within their characters.

Overall I found Paradise to be a very entertaining film. While I wish we’d spend more time on the wider world building of this juxtaposed society, the thread of Max and Elena’s relationship running through the film is what really makes it work. In the end, Paradise asks the same moral question of its viewers that the characters face – how far would you be willing to go to reclaim your lost years?

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