Nicht ohne Risiko

There is a lot at stake in this game: The economic existence of an engineering company, and the sum 750.000 Euro. The company NCTE wants to produce and launch a new technical development. The product: non-contact torque sensors. Several times, the company meets with representatives of Buchanan, a venture capital company. Buchanan wants 34 per cent of the company’s share for their investment, NCTE is thinking of 20 per cent. The negotiations are stunning, more exciting than a game of poker. Farocki put his mostly motionless camera in the middle of the negotiating table. Sometimes, the camera pans on a protagonist’s face, sometimes subtitles explain the business English jargon.
Strictly speaking, the film does nothing else than to watch two parties bargaining in a cultivated manner that is streaked with technical jargon. But at some point, viewers find themselves in a quintessentially theatrical drama, including all the artificial procrastinations, the tricks and deceits, the subtle threats and provocations that are part of these negotiation rituals. The participants are sweating, they vex each other, or they remain silent until someone can’t stand it anymore. The happy ending is a provisional one and, of course, a win-win situation.

Source: Birgit Glombitza: "Deutschland, revisited II". (Catalogue of the correspondent film series at Kommunales Kino Metropolis, September 2007). Hamburg: Kinemathek Hamburg e.V., 2007.