While the multiverse concept has proven to be a staple of the modern film industry, with blockbusters like Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” reigning at the top of the highest-grossing movies of all time, “Run Lola Run,” an experimental indie film out of Germany back in 1998, planted the seeds for this trend and continues to serve as one of the most influential films in the genre. The film takes an initially simple thriller route and turns it upside down as the two protagonists, Lola, played by then-newcomer actress Franka Potente, and Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), attempt to find 100,000 Deutsche Marks to avoid a perilous fate at the hands of a mobster.

While the film’s premise appears straightforward throughout the first 30 minutes, the introduction of a disjointed, time-bending plot starts with a critical scene, initiating a cyclical story that ultimately brings the audience right back to the opening moments. The lack of a standardized sense of time aids director Tom Tykwer in forming a thrilling narrative where the true resolution — a reality in which Lola and Manni can discover 100,000 Marks — remains simultaneously achievable and unachievable. Throughout the three key chapters of the film, marked by different timelines, Lola and Manni take diverging approaches to finding the money – in one, Lola robs the bank at which her Papa works, but in another, Manni chases after the man who snatched the original money stash. In each timeline, Tykwer forces Lola and Manni into differing scenarios in which every little action has a grand impact. The attention to detail here, such as the motif of the passage of time being seen through the recurring symbol of analog clocks, enables “Run Lola Run” to emerge as a pioneering success both in the German film industry and globally. 

Regarding the other key elements of “Run Lola Run,” its high-octane and frenetic pace stands out and creates a captivating effect that leaves you yearning to discover the greater fates of Lola and Manni. After Lola discovers Manni needs 100,000 Marks by a 20-minute deadline, the film sets Lola on a sprint across Berlin. During the start of each time loop, Tykwer employs another successful component in the form of hand-drawn animations that take place as Lola sprints down a set of stairs. The transition from live-action to animation and back again creates a sporadic but innovative visual technique. As the events differ ever so slightly between each time loop, ultimately leading to shifts in the greater narrative, Tykwer forms an enthralling narrative — presenting two negative outcomes for the protagonists before a final resolution in the film’s closing moments. With three different possible endings for the protagonists, Tykwer creates a split tree of options. However, in only one of these options is everything perfectly set in place for Lola and Manni to work separately but simultaneously to accomplish what initially seems to be an impossible feat.

Throughout the film, Tykwer harkens to the phenomenon of the butterfly effect, as every single action has an ultimate consequence for side characters. Whether with a pedestrian woman who is seen carrying a baby in a stroller or a bank employee at her father’s company, Lola’s choice to interact with these different individuals in differing time loops leads to deeply contrasting outcomes in each. For example, the pedestrian woman is seen in a state of turmoil in the first loop, having lost her child. However, in the second timeline, she ends up winning the lottery and is seen in a state of high elation. The stark contrast between the different outcomes, which each emerges as the result of even the most minor actions on Lola’s part, leads each narrative beat to appear surprising even as the same events nearly repeat over again. 

Tykwer’s film is a key cornerstone in film history and has helped pave the way for the concept of the multiverse as a pivotal piece in modern movies. In that vein, “Run Lola Run” has – and continues to be – a remarkable success that showcases the power and influence of German cinema upon the greater film world.