The Ext. Street Blog
A night in Berlin with
Victoria
Directers have experimented with long takes since cinema was invented. In the age of celluloid, this would be limited to the physical length of film avaiable. A classic example is Hitchcock's Rope, made up of ten long takes, of between four and a half and ten minutes, edited together to play as one long scene in real time. In the new millenium, with the advent of digital cameras capable of much longer takes, filmmakers now had the ability to shoot an entire feature film in one take. Russian Ark (2002) was an early example where the filmmakers were confined to the grounds of a museum, giving them greater control of the extended choreography.
In 2015, Director Sebastian Schipper shot Victoria on the streets of Berlin. His cast and crew ran through the film three times in the late night / early hours, and the result, a technical marvel, is also a gripping thriller. Here we follow Victoria's path through the city, on foot and by car.
Spoilers follow.
Victoria's journey begins in the nightclub on Charlottenstraße in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin. Meeting Sonne and his friends, they walk to the Convenience store one street to the West on Friedrichstraße, before heading to the roof.
Victoria and Sonne then enjoy an intimate moment in the café she works in.
The next part of their journey is by car. They head west to Friedrichstraße and the meeting in the garage. Blinker freaks out on Stresemannstraße, before they drive eastwards to the bank on Zimmerstraße.
The gang then head back to Charlottenstraße.
On foot again, they revisit the nightclub. Things take a dark turn when the police turn up and they are pursued along Puttkamerstraße. The bullets start flying. Sonne and Victoria hide in the block of flats.
In disguise as a young family, Victoria and Sonne hail a taxi on Hedemannstraße.
They head north towards the Mitte district, finally alighting on Friedrichstrasse. After a very brief stay at the Westin Grand, Victoria walks off into the dawn.
The hotel also featured in The Bourne Supremacy.
All images on this page made with OpenStreetMap.org using Streets.gl.