Run Lola Run - Analysis

Run Lola Run - Analysis

By Justin Seibel

Run Lola Run is a film about a dating relationship and how if one person in the relationship rushes ahead of the other, the other will be hurt.  The structure of the film plays out in three Acts where Lola replays the same 20 minutes over again.  Only on the third try she does finally get it right. 

In the first Act, Manni robs a grocery store and “rushes” Lola ahead farther than she was ready for.  Manni robs the store, but Lola is the one who gets shot.  In the second Act, Lola rushes ahead and tries to grab control by robbing her father’s bank of the $100,000 she needs to save Manni.  Lola robs the bank, but a truck hits Manni.  Both of their deaths have great symbolic moments of what it feels like if a person is hurt in a relationship.  A woman who loses her boy friend might say it felt like a stab in the chest or a shot through the heart.  That’s exactly what happens to Lola.  She takes a bullet dead in the center of her chest.  For a man who might have his girl friend break up with him, he might describe the pain as if he was hit by a Mac truck.  Lola rushes ahead, robs the bank, but Manni is the one who is hurt and literally run over by a truck.  Both characters are being selfish when they push ahead and it damages the other.  Which is true in a relationship.  What’s great about Run Lola Run is that there are many symbols that are physically used in the film to express the ideas of the director Tom Tykwer. 

One of the clues that points to this meaning of RLR are the red scenes in between the Acts when Lola and Manni lie in bed.  In each red scene, either Lola or Manni are questioning how the other is sure they love the other.  The one who is questioning is the one who had just died in the previous Act.  We know that this must have happened earlier in this scenario because after the red scene it comes back to the dying person in the Act then starts the new Act.  The red scenes act as primer to solving the problem.  They are the keys that tell you what the Act was about. 

The third Act, Lola has run out of options.  She learns as she goes through the Acts.  When Lola first picks up the gun when Manni is robbing the store, she doesn’t know how to take the safety off, but in Act two she knows how to shoot a gun.  When Lola knows that there’s a dog on the stairs at the beginning of Act three she jumps over it.  This helps her be early for her entire run.  She stops Mr. Meyer allowing him to drive and pick up Lola’s dad before she gets there.  She can’t rob the bank and she’s got to keep Manni from robbing the store.  There’s got to be a way for them to get the money in a legal way.

At the end of Act one, Lola is pleading in her head for Manni to wait.  In the moment we think it’s literally for the story point that he’s going to rob the store, but now we can see it as he is pushing Lola forward in the relationship before she is ready.  Here in Act three, Lola doesn’t know what to do and begins running.  She’s almost praying, “I’m waiting.  What do you want me to do?  I’m waiting.  I’m waiting.”  She isn’t trying to rush Manni.  She is earnest about wanting the situation to work out, but not sure of what to do.  There’s something about singlehood that is about waiting.  Everyone wants a relationship, but if it’s rushed it could be the wrong relationship for both of you.  Lola gets to that patient and contented place waiting to find the right one.  She awakens to be staring at a casino.  This leads to one of the most emotional climaxes I’ve ever seen in film.  Lola only has one hundred dollars and she’s going to make a bet on roulette.  The symbolism of her bets are the same as if you like someone and hope it works out.  Let’s say you like some and want to date them.  That’s what it’s like when she puts her first bet down.  You are invested, but if it doesn’t work out it’s not a big loss.  It’s the same investment as you heart.  Maybe if you like someone, but don’t get to date it could hurt, but not as bad as a divorce.  When she takes her winnings, now $3,500, and doubles down on the same number she is more invested.  This is symbolic of a dating relationship and wanting it to become a marriage.  It’s important to note that it’s the same number.  It’s like she’s betting on the same guy again.  In reality it’d be crazy to bet on the same number again.  For the symbolism of the movie it works.  When the ball is spinning around the roulette wheel and Lola screams with all her might she’s expressing that hope we have that the relationship will work out.  It’s out of her hands, it’s chance and it’s everything Lola is hoping for.  Lola screams with all her might, she gets lucky and wins again.  Her winnings add up to over the $100,000 needed to help Manni. 

Lola has saved the day, but the story wouldn’t be complete unless Manni worked his issues too.  Many times in a relationship it’s not just one person that needs to work on things, but both.  In RLR, both Manni and Lola need to work things out and not push the other before they are ready.  Lola learns patience and wins the money and by her working on herself she helps Manni work out his own issues and he gets the money back.  By Lola acting the way she does in the third Act, it puts the trash bag guy near Manni and he gets the money back.  It’s just like both people working on themselves.  Many times problems are amplified by other people and their reactions to our issues.  Another benefit of not rushing the other person is that the issues get worked out.  So in the end not only does Manni get the money back, now Lola actually has a wealth of money for the two of them.

Finally, in the mythic structure, once Lola has learned her lesson she has the healing elixir to bring back to her townspeople.  She has learned her lesson and when she gets into the ambulance she is able to heal the guy having a heart attack.  The previous two Acts she doesn’t get in the ambulance, but the last time she does.  Obviously, there’s nothing medical about what she does by holding the guy’s hand so it must be symbolically that she helps him.  With the other symbols that Tykwer uses it can be accepted that it’s only because Lola has learned her lesson that she’s able give and not take any more.  Since she did things the right way she is able to help instead of taking, as in robbing a bank.  Along with slaying her dragon comes the gold.  At the end, not only has Lola solved her problem as well as Manni solving his, but she also now has the gold, the winnings from the casino. There are bonuses for doing what’s right. 

Run Lola Run is a great symbolic film with great lessons about dating and relationships.  It made me a huge fan of Tom Tykwer and I hope he goes back to this type of filmmaking.