Run Lola Run (German: Lola rennt, literally Lola Runs) is a 1998 German crime thriller film written and directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Franka Potente as Lola and Moritz Bleibtreu as Manni. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 German marks (50,984 Euro) in 20 minutes to save her boyfriend’s life. The film’s three scenarios are reminiscent of the 1981 Krzysztof Kieślowski film Blind Chance; following Kieślowski’s death, Tykwer directed his planned film Heaven.

Plot

The house in Albrechtstraße (Berlin-Mitte) where the three episodes begin
The film begins with Lola (Franka Potente) receiving a phone call from her distraught boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). He is a small-time criminal and has lost 100,000 marks belonging to his crime boss by accidentally leaving it on a train (Lola was supposed to pick him up, but her moped was stolen while she was buying cigarettes). After the doors of the train closed, he saw a homeless man pick up the bag of money but he was unable to get back onto the train before it left the station. Upon not seeing any trace of his money or the homeless man at the next station, Manni assumes the money is long gone.
Manni has to get the money within 20 minutes before his boss finds out, and plans to rob a nearby supermarket. Lola urges him to wait and tells him she will sort out the money. She decides to ask her father (Herbert Knaup), who is a bank manager.
The main part of the film is divided in three “runs”. Each run starts from the same situation but develops differently and has a different outcome. Each run contains various flash-forward sequences, showing how the lives of the people that Lola bumps into develop after the encounter. In each run, those people are affected in different ways.
[edit]First run
Lola starts running and encounters a punk with a dog in the staircase. The dog growls at her, causing her to sprint faster. Lola runs through the streets of Berlin towards her father’s bank. She collides with a woman pushing a perambulator, who curses her – a flash forward then shows the woman’s child being taken away by Child Care leading her to steal someone else’s baby. Continuing, Lola causes a man (who is later shown to be her father’s colleague) to be involved in a small car accident. When she arrives at the bank, Lola’s father refuses to give her money, telling her that he feels unappreciated at home, that he is leaving Lola and her mother for his mistress who is expecting his child and that he is not Lola’s real father. Also at the bank Lola passes one woman in the hallway who is shown in a flash-forward to be paralysed in a violent car accident, then killing herself shortly after. Lola runs on to meet Manni, arriving a few moments after the deadline. Manni’s robbery is already in progress; Lola decides to help him rob the store. The two flee on foot afterwards but find themselves surrounded by police, and a nervous police officer accidentally shoots Lola in the chest.
The scene fades out to show Lola and Manni talking in bed, with Lola questioning Manni about his love for her. While answering Manni’s question as to whether she’s leaving him, Lola says “Stop!” and the film restarts at the point where she started running.
[edit]Second run
In the second run, the punk with the dog trips Lola, injuring her leg and making her limp slightly. She collides once again with the woman pushing a perambulator, but a flash forward this time shows the woman winning a lottery. She again causes a car accident involving the father’s colleague. Lola arrives at the bank a few moments later because of her limp, which leaves enough time for her father’s mistress to explain that she is pregnant by someone else. Lola hears more of the argument this time, and becomes infuriated. She robs her father’s bank with a gun grabbed from the bank’s security officer, escapes because the police mistake her for a fleeing hostage, and takes off with the money to meet Manni. A flash-forward shows the lady who passes Lola in the hallway later settling down with the cashier who hands Lola the money at gunpoint. When Lola reaches Manni, he hears her call his name, but he is run over by an ambulance as he crosses the street to meet her.
The scene again fades to Lola and Manni in bed, this time with the roles reversed: Manni questions Lola about her love for him. The film briefly returns to the present day and shows Manni refusing to die, before restarting once more at the beginning of Lola’s run.
[edit]Third run
The third time Lola is a split second faster, as she leaps over the punk on the steps. This time she neither collides with the woman and her perambulator nor causes an accident, and the business associate is able to pick up Lola’s father. Lola misses her father completely and keeps on running. She enters a casino, buys a single 100-mark chip, and finds a roulette table. She wins two consecutive bets on the number “20”, which gives Lola 123,500 marks, more than enough money to help Manni. She hitches a ride in the ambulance from the other runs, as it stops. The ambulance is carrying the security guard from her father’s bank who has apparently suffered a heart attack. She takes his hand, and moments later, his heart rate begins to return to normal.
Meanwhile, Manni sees the homeless man who took his money in the beginning of the film. Manni chases him, inadvertently causing a car crash involving Lola’s father, his business associate, and the man who stole Lola’s moped in the first place. Manni retrieves his money, but the homeless man asks for Manni’s gun in return. Feeling sorry for the homeless man, Manni gives him his gun. Lola arrives to find Manni stepping out of a car and shaking his boss’s hand. The movie ends with Manni asking Lola what is in the bag she is carrying.