This paper addresses multi-linearity in narrative structure of Lola Rennt(LR), a German film directed by Tom Tykwer in 1998. This movie is reminiscent of Groundhog Day(1993) and Sliding Doors(1998) in that it has repetitions or variations of one same core event. All these three movies have forking paths: five episodes in Groundhog Day, two in Sliding Doors, and three in LR. Comparing with the other two, however, LR starts with different beginning scenes even though the three different stories unfold on the basis of the core event. One day, Lola suddenly got a call from Manni, her boyfriend that he needs 100,000 DM in 20 minutes. Immediately when Lola hung up the phone, she kept running actually for 20 minutes in each episode to seek the money. The film trailer shows that each decision of every day life can change our whole life. In reality we are not given option of trial, error and retrial. However, artistic narrati ves including films, literature and even computer games create alternate/alternative reality where we can try over and over again if we don’t get what we want. In LR, Lora tries three times to achieve her mission. In the first episode, she dies and in the second, Manni dies, and in the final episode both of the couple survive. This is a computer game motif yet the message Tykwer wants to give is beyond that of a spontaneous game. In these three ‘acts’ of the film, he deals with typical theme of movies, love, in an untypical way of multi-linear narrative structure of three forking story

This paper addresses multi-linearity in narrative structure of Lola Rennt(LR), a German film directed by Tom Tykwer in 1998. This movie is reminiscent of Groundhog Day(1993) and Sliding Doors(1998) in that it has repetitions or variations of one same core event. All these three movies have forking paths: five episodes in Groundhog Day, two in Sliding Doors, and three in LR. Comparing with the other two, however, LR starts with different beginning scenes even though the three different stories unfold on the basis of the core event. One day, Lola suddenly got a call from Manni, her boyfriend that he needs 100,000 DM in 20 minutes. Immediately when Lola hung up the phone, she kept running actually for 20 minutes in each episode to seek the money. The film trailer shows that each decision of every day life can change our whole life. In reality we are not given option of trial, error and retrial. However, artistic narrati ves including films, literature and even computer games create alternate/alternative reality where we can try over and over again if we don’t get what we want. In LR, Lora tries three times to achieve her mission. In the first episode, she dies and in the second, Manni dies, and in the final episode both of the couple survive. This is a computer game motif yet the message Tykwer wants to give is beyond that of a spontaneous game. In these three ‘acts’ of the film, he deals with typical theme of movies, love, in an untypical way of multi-linear narrative structure of three forking story

, , , , , , , ,

Multi-linearity, Non-linearity, Lora Rennt, Multi-form, Multi-form Narrative, Multi Point of View, Multi focalization, Multi Path Narrative, Forking Path