An elderly piano teacher in a detention center tries to tame an exploding young prisoner with an exceptional musical gift and harness it to her advantage: winning a famous competition. Fascinating leading roles who move within an unhealthy prison culture. What I'm missing is psychological depth. The rigid pre-war unsympathetic character of the piano teacher could have been better replaced by someone with attention and feeling for the rightly rebellious girl. Together with a more robust prison director, this could have resulted in a better film.

The familiar story of a teacher‘s relationship with a gifted pupil is given an interesting treatment which plays its premise through with more complexity than some critics have acknowledged, IMO. This is thanks to the remarkable characterizations enacted by 2 extraordinary actresses, Hannah Herzsprung & the late Monica Bleibtreu. How the story plays out is in some ways what one might expect from a film of this nature & yet the realism shown in the situation itself gives the situation an added element of credibility. These two characters, the piano student & the teacher who attempts to re-waken the latent talent in her pupil, become continually more affecting & absorbing & compensate for the few flaws in the stories details. Musical purists beware! The treatment of the Schumann piano concert may arise more than a few eyebrows. This is a German film with English subtitles & well worth seeing for the two actresses alone.

Excelente drama alemão, vários temas polêmicos interligados, nazismo, amores homoafetivo, assassinatos, presídio feminino, culpa, rejeição, bullying num aglomerado cenário de dores e agressão, mas um belo exemplo de perdão e superação.... Os alemães souberam emocionar, mesmo se utilizando da frieza que lhe és peculiar, excelente produção...

I loved the movie. Very realistic characters and great plot. Hidden gem and well worth seeing

Well worth the effort!

Loved it! I started watching equipped with only a short description of what the film was about and was riveted for the duration. Superb acting. Characters flawed and believable. This film will stay with me. I will watch it again.

Such a vibrant film! Nonetheless, it felt like it had greater potential...

Una grandiosa historia, con una muy buena trama, música increíble y escenas memorables.

An intense movie with some great performances....and a pretty good story

Characters faithful to themselves and realistic An audiovisual piece that teaches how to keep the viewer always aware of the final result.

"Four Minutes" is a gripping, multi-layered German prison drama, held together by a raft of brilliant performances and an emotionally riveting storyline. In basic terms, the film follows an elderly piano teacher who works within the women's prison teaching the inmates how to play music. The teacher has been working in the prison building since the days of Nazi Germany and World War II, and has some deep emotional connections to the place. But when she begins to teach Jenny, a sullen hardened criminal and child piano prodigy, the rules and ideals she's held so close become more and more challenged. The cast, led by Monica Bleibtreu and Hannah Herzsprung, all take layered and well-writted characters and portray them effectively upon the screen. But it is the writing that steals the show here. Effective uses of flashbacks, and sudden reveals of some very dark and depressing elements are all utilized with great effect here. A more than solid film. A handy 9/10 rating.

Starts really well, but it flattens out and becomes less interesting as it goes along, and fails to maintain its momentum or capitalise on its premise. Though it's well-directed for the most part, and I was pleasantly surprised in the beginning (I couldn't remember why I added it to my queue, so the first few scenes, especially the amazing moment when the main character first plays the piano, blew me away), the script's weaknesses assert themselves and it ends on a cringe-worthy slow clap.

Relentlessly captivating.

The story of the unlikely friendship between an old piano teacher and her pupil, a very talented piano player and young convict at a women's penitentiary. Aims to modernize a tired formula, but feels too structured and predictable to break new grounds.

Really good, particularly in the acting department.

É um filme de enorme sensibilidade, mostrando uma prisioneira massacrada pela vida, dura e solitária, que aos poucos abre seu coração à idosa professora de piano.

Truly one of the best films I've ever seen. Powerful, moving, and torturously honest.

One of the most epic films, challenging and beautiful and painful, and unavoidably intriguing.....

wasn't going to say a thing about this film or about any film at all but... won't say if it's good or if it's bad, will only use this film just as an example of what experience of seeing film should be, it should be just individual process of seeing film no more, no less; critics / reviewers / writers / posters /posers / suggesters / not recommenders / lovers / haters go and fuck yourself! you are as needed as lighting pole needs a pissing dog :)

really good german movie