Reviews

The german made-for-television film industry does not lack in capable actors. When these actors are provided with well-conceived plots and intelligent dialogues, the result is a quality production.

Such is the case with the film under review: it tells the story of a husband (Thomas Sarbacher)-and-wife (Julia Jaeger)-with-child (Sammy Scheuritzel) family going through a low-intensity crisis that coincides in time with the sudden passing away of the wife's mother (Bibiane Zeller). The somewhat unpromising premise is elevated by the fact that Julia's parents plied an unusual trade: the transport of freight by barge up and down the Rhein. This has been the entire life of widower (Heinz Baumann) and, left without his only mate, he faces an uncertain future. Julia and son Sammy spontaneously decide to join him for a few days as temporary crew, mostly to escape the problems at home. Shortly thereafter, as a happy consequence of a technical problem with the barge, the crew-of-three is joined by Julia's old schoolfriend (Soenke Moehring) and his daughter (Stella Kunkat).

The movie's appeal owes a great deal to the river setting that works as a parallel universe, affording a perspective from which the problems in the "real world" can be considered more serenely.

The actors deliver performances of great natural. My only regret is that we see so little of Bibiane Zeller.

The film opens with a scene at a tribunal for minor offenders, where a seventeen-year old shoplifter (Nadia Hilker) is sentenced to a bout of community service. Her father is an airline pilot--- caring but often absent; her mother passed away some years ago. So it is her middle-aged aunt (Jutta Speidel) who agrees to take her into her large, if somewhat impoverished home in the country, which once served as a bed-and-breakfast. Also living in the house as a boarder is a former professor of linguistics (Ingo Naujoks), prematurely retired, whom the aunt met while they were both patients in a mental hospital. With such a premise, one would not expect the film to offer much entertainment potential. In fact, however, the film turns out to be a genuine treat. The storyline, centered on the interactions of those characters, is developed with skill; the dialogs are unpretentious but touch on important themes. And all this is carried by a trio of excellent actors.

A rare event, in my (admittedly limited) experience. Too often, made-for-tv German "comedies" focus on unsavoury themes involving unsavoury characters, leading to a teeth-grinding experience for the viewer--- a typical example being the dinner party where various couples tear into each other. Not so with the movie under consideration: there is no baddie; the characters are all likeable, if not particularly wise. Even the scenes of a more daring, let us say "romantic" nature, come across as good fun with nobody getting hurt. With the debonnaire Thomas Heinze as the therapist, Herbert Knaup as the eager patient, and the impossibly beautiful Nina Kronjaeger to perturb the proper conduct of the therapy, we have a winning trio that makes for a very entertaining 90 minutes.

I have now seen this film a few times. What draws me to it? It is in many respect the antithesis of the Hollywood production. Here, the film-maker has something to say that is profoundly human, and does so without resorting to manipulations and gimmicks. The film is moving but never descends into melodrama. It also succeeds in creating a peculiarly poetic, almost "fairy-tale" (think Grand Meaulnes) atmosphere, that is at the same time believable as "true". The plot is character-driven, carried by an array of excellent actors. Even minor roles are done extremely well: I think in particular of the part played by the store's first owner, so pleased and grateful when she finds a buyer in Thomas; or the part of the pathologist, who carries out his task which such genuine empathy.

I will very likely want to see it again at some point.