Happiness Is a Warm Gun

2001

Petra Kelly, the 1980s 'green queen' and peace activist, is shot in her sleep by her lover and political ally, former West German army general Gert Bastian. He kills himself shortly afterwards. Was it murder, or did she want that shot? What happens to Petra, from the time Gert's bullet enters her skull to the moment it lodges in her brain and she dies? She experiences a flash-forward to the present time and wakes up in the glassy transit zone of an international airport. On her trip through this modern purgatory, Petra struggles to unravel the meaning of the shot together with Gert and other figures from her life. In the explosive moment between life and death, she recognizes the force of her most absolute desires.