The Princess and the Warrior

The Princess and the Warrior
German-language poster
Directed by	Tom Tykwer
Produced by	Stefan Arndt Katja De Bock Gebhard Henke Maria Köpf
Written by	Tom Tykwer
Starring	Franka Potente Benno Fürmann
Music by	Reinhold Heil Johnny Klimek Tom Tykwer Lou Rhodes
Cinematography	Frank Griebe
Edited by	Mathilde Bonnefoy
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date	Venice Film Festival: 2 September 2000
Running time	135 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German
Box office	$871,058 (USA)

The Princess and the Warrior (German: Der Krieger und die Kaiserin, literally "The Warrior and the Empress") is a 2000 German drama film written and directed by Tom Tykwer with Franka Potente, star of his previous movie Run Lola Run (Lola rennt), in a leading role. It follows the life of Sissi, a psychiatric hospital nurse who, after a near-death experience, enters into a relationship with Bodo (Benno Fürmann), an anguished former soldier who lapses into criminality.

The film begins with a letter to Sissi, a nurse in a psychiatric hospital, asking her for help in wrapping up the affairs of a friend's dead mother. Sissi cares for her patients to the effect that they appear to be her extended family (in fact, she states that her own father is a patient in the hospital). As such, she has little experience of life outside the hospital. Meanwhile, Bodo, living with his brother, applies for a funerary job but is quickly dismissed because of his inability to control his emotions. He later robs a grocery store and during the ensuing chase indirectly causes a truck to hit Sissi. Taking cover from the police underneath the truck, Bodo finds Sissi, who cannot speak or breathe. In order to save her life, he performs an emergency tracheotomy. Once Sissi is in medical care, they are separated without Sissi ever learning his name.

The circumstances of her accident prevent Sissi from re-adjusting to her mundane life at the hospital, as she obsesses about tracking down her saviour. One of her patient friends, who had accompanied her on the day of her accident, helps her do so. She manages to track down Bodo, who is not interested in maintaining contact with her or any other woman. We see several times how Bodo, in a semi-conscious state, embraces a hot stove, having to be restrained by his brother Walter. It later becomes clear that Bodo is hallucinating (or perhaps dreaming) about his deceased wife, having never fully recovered from her death. Walter tells Sissi that Bodo's wife was killed in an explosion at a filling station, while Bodo was in the washroom. After Walter finishes his explanation, Bodo arrives and throws Sissi out.