The main aspect of Run Lola Run that maintains its narrative momentum is repetition. It sets up a baseline with the first run, and then alters small details. Due to the repetitive nature of the narrative, breaking from this repetition brings attention to those moments. Not only that, but this film does a beautiful job of setting up the narrative with Lola’s first phone call with Mani. This gives the viewer enough information to understand all three runs, and is a great starting point for the branching timelines.
Bouncing off that, this film also has strong visual symbols, which also help ground the viewer. For example, the color red is extremely potent in this film, and the flashback scenes have strong red lighting and color grading signaling to the viewer that the content of those scenes is outside the narrative timeline.
Not only that, but the film uses real world time as well, with all three segments being exactly 20 minutes. It does this by focusing on different details through each run, making shots longer or shorter depending on the narrative importance. For example, in run three we get a sequence of the homeless man and what he does after he obtains the bag. This is a contrast to the previous runs that only focus on Lola. This draws attention away from Lola, and based on the repetition and what we know from the previous runs, we can assume nothing new is happening with Lola’s timeline. This shot continuity signals the viewer what to focus on for each individual run.
Lastly, this film uses split screens to show multiple visual elements happening at once to maintain timing consistency, and show multiple events happening at once. This film also expands upon that by having a split screen take place within the same shot, showing altered perspectives in the same space.
