Forever young, forever beautiful, forever live. In the near-future thriller “Paradise” this no longer seems to be an unattainable wish. At least for those who can afford to have lifetime transferred from another person to themselves. The biotech company Aeon makes it possible: People can sell their lifetime and give it to someone else – as long as the DNA is compatible.
The director Boris Kunz, who also wrote the screenplay together with Peter Kocyla and Simon Amberger, stages a disturbing vision of the future with “Paradise”. Especially at the beginning, the film impresses with the introduction to the dystopian world of lifetime transfers.
Suddenly 40 years older
Max (Kostja Ullmann) works for Aeon as a “donation manager”. He is supposed to convince potential donors to exchange their lifetime for money, he has no moral qualms, and his life seems almost perfect: Max is named Employee of the Year, he and his wife Elena (Marlene Tanczik) want to start a family. But then the expensive shared apartment burns down – and the insurance company doesn’t pay.
Because Elena deposited 40 years of her life as security without Max’s knowledge, she has to give up 38 years immediately. Then Max finds out who has benefited from the time transfer and resorts to extreme means to get back the stolen years of his now greatly aged wife (from now on played by Corinna Kirchhoff).
With its concept of lifetime as currency, “Paradise” is reminiscent of the sci-fi thriller “In Time” starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. However, lifetime has completely replaced money as currency there, whereas in the Netflix film produced by Simon Amberger, Korbinian Dufter and Rafael Parente, the Faustian Pact requires surgery and genetic compatibility. What is the same in both films, however, is that it is primarily rich people who benefit from the system.
In the violence: Max (Kostja Ullmann) is hiding with Marie Theissen (Lisa-Marie Koroll): Image: dpa
The film, which was shot in Germany and Lithuania, condenses and exaggerates current developments ranging from obsession with beauty and youth, organized crime and radical activism to the growing gap between rich and poor. Especially the latter creates an interesting premise in “Paradise”: The poor are now so poor that they can only offer their lifetime – and the rich accept it.
Bumpy moments in “Paradise”
The head behind the transfer is Aeon boss Sophie Theissen, who endowed Iris Berben with plenty of charisma. Theissen would also like to be rejuvenated, but has not yet found a suitable donor. She pretends to be philanthropic, for example introducing a foundation that is intended to give all Nobel Prize winners additional years of life for free. After all, they had already defeated climate change, since the richest people with the prospect of more time on earth were still interested in preserving it and had invested in climate protection – a successful allusion to the present and the current ones that can be seen at celebrities Expressions of the attempt to conquer old age and death.
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The signs that can be seen from time to time in the city with the inscription “Stop Ageism” clearly show the double standards of the inhabitants of dystopian Berlin: They promote more acceptance of old people in society, but discriminate against them on a daily basis by researching eternal youth – and sometimes so many years can be transferred that adult women become children.
Extreme means: Max (Kostja Ullmann) does everything to bring back his wife’s years. : Image: Netflix
So how does a possible lifetime transfer change society? Can it be morally justifiable, for example when there is a great lack of money? And what does the loss of years or decades mean for those affected and their families? Elena’s extremely rapid aging process should make all these questions clear, but unfortunately her story doesn’t take the viewer particularly emotionally.
And the plot also has its bumpy moments. The action scenes are sometimes more, sometimes less exciting and convincing. The fact that each of the characters morally reorients itself at the end seems too forced and implausible. Maybe we just ask ourselves how far we would go to save our lifetime.
The film Paradise starts on Friday, July 27th. at Netflix.
2023-07-27 17:56:13
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