Cloud 9

I watched an interesting movie last night. Cloud 9 is about Inge, a 67-year-old woman who has been married to Werner for 30 years. She meets Karl, who is 76 and falls in love with him. The guilt of the affair is hard for her and she finally confesses to Karl. I’m not going to give away what happens but I will say that I was disappointed in the ending.

It’s a German movie with subtitles but even without the subtitles I think you could follow the plot line. Aside from the ages of the trio the other unusual thing about the movie is that it contains a lot of nudity. Not unusual in movies, but older actors nude and having sex isn’t something we see often.

I thought it was well done.  It’s nice to see older people (I hasten to add they are much older than me!) portrayed as enjoying sex and finding each other’s bodies attractive.  It’s interesting also that Inge clearly loved her husband. She wasn’t out looking for an affair, she was settled in her marriage but she fell in love. The portrayal of two older people falling in love is nice. Generally we just see 20 to 30-year-old beautiful people. You can fall in love at any age and it’s nice to see that portrayed in a movie.

The other thing I thought interesting was the conflict of Inge loving her husband but loving Karl also. What she felt for Karl eclipsed her love for her husband  Is it a sad or joyful thing to realize that the love you’ve felt for someone wasn’t enough? Finding the person you belong with and being with them even though it hurts someone else takes a willingness to put yourself first which isn’t always easy.