''I Was a Swiss Banker'' is a 2007

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

directed by Thomas Imbach, from a screenplay by Imbach, Eva Kammerer and Jürg Hassler, and starring Beat Marti. The film premiered on 12 February 2007 during the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Plot

The successful young Swiss banker Roger Caviezel has been smuggling the

black money A black market is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services whose production and distributi ...

of his German customers across the border for some time. When he is stopped in his vehicle at a border control, he flees into

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

with his wallet - as the police are chasing him. This lake, however, is populated by mystical beings. The banker bets with a witch that he can find his true love in a maximum of three attempts. When his flirtations with a shepherdess, a blonde seductress and a waitress fail and he realizes that he cannot free himself from the clutches of the pushy witch, he visits his canton Graubünden home. There he falls in love with a Turkish employee on his grandmother's farm, which also does not last long. After he was able to parachute to safety from the witch, he is enchanted by another companion, the mermaid in

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British adventurer and archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins arou ...

outfit. She becomes his mistress Patricia, with whom Roger finds his new happiness as a lido operator on

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

Cast

Beat Marti Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

as Roger Caviezel *

Laura Drasbæk Laura Drasbæk (born 22 December 1974) is a Danish actress. She has appeared in more than thirty films since 1990. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drasbaek, Laura 1974 births Living people Actresses fr ...

as Patricia, a mermaid * Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis as Heli, a witch * Sandra Medina as Laura * Helena af Sandeberg as Helena * Mellika Melani as Zahar * Angelica Biert as Grandmother *

Lale Yavaş Lale Yavaş (born 1978 in Brugg) is a Swiss and Turkish actress. Biography Born in 1978 in Zürich, she studied arts at the University of Bern. After finishing her studies, she landed roles in ''Alles wird gut'', ''I was a Swiss banker'', and ' ...

as Banu

Background

The fairy tale plot is based on ''

The Little Mermaid "The Little Mermaid" (), sometimes translated in English as "The Little Sea Maid", is a fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Originally published in 1837 as part of a collection of fairy tales for children, the story foll ...

'' by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

, and the female main characters are played by Scandinavian actresses.

Reception

Lexikon of International Film described the film positively, writing: "A playful, fairy-tale search for federal identity, developed in refreshingly sensual images, which in a variety of ways sings the praises of equal coexistence." René Müller of Filmbulletin wrote: "''I Was a Swiss Banker'' is characterized by a curious mix of genres. A fairy tale that begins like a crime thriller and develops into a frivolous travel and local history film with an international touch.“ Lukas Foerster of Dirty Laundry wrote: "''I Was a Swiss Banker'' is also the best film about Switzerland that I have ever seen. ...Roger is from the very beginning beyond psychologization and family history and serves merely as an always well-coiffed free-floating object, which on the one hand can be claimed by erotic and other accesses and on the other hand can serve as a picture and narration machinery, which is able to produce a postcard panorama and an abstruse subplot one after the other.“Lukas Foerster, Dirty Laundry 2/2007

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0969277, I Was a Swiss banker Swiss fantasy films 2007 films 2007 fantasy films Films about witchcraft Films based on The Little Mermaid