Armed with the success of Run Lola Run, Tom Tykwer surprisingly stayed in Germany with a slightly larger budget, and made The Princess and the Warrior in 2000.

Again Franka Potente plays the central character, this time a nurse in a mental hospital who becomes involved with an escaping bank robber posing as an amnesiac, and again it’s a meditation on fate, madness and coincidence. This time it plays out as a slower-moving tragedy, but Tykwer repeats his mastery of composition and editing. Like John Carpenter, Tykwer writes his own music and like Carpenter, you can always admire the technique and the wry sense of humour even if the movies don’t seem to be going anywhere.

The Princess and the Warrior needs a lot more patience than Run Lola Run, and features only the occasional big set-piece, but rewards the viewer with a moving if meandering story.

Mild Peril Rating:

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Tags: Euro