17/45
Her joy is temporary because his health is rapidly declining
Scenario
Lissy rejoices at her husband Gerd’s degradation in a house. Even Leo Tolstoy knew that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This is also the case for the German director Matthias GLASNER, who received the Silver Bear at the BERLINALE 2024 for his new film DYING. But he can add the North German Protestant variant to the theme, which further intensifies the family melancholy. Lissy Lunies (Corinna HARFOUCH) and her husband Gerd (Hans Uwe BAUER) live in a small town in northern Germany and are already severely affected by old age.
Accepting help is difficult for both of them
Their two children live far away and are hit hard by their own problems. Son Tom (Lars EIDINGER) lives in Berlin and is somewhat successful as a conductor, but is hopelessly entangled in private quarrels. His daughter Ellen (Lilith STANGENBERG) lives in Hamburg and lives so much in alcohol that she wakes up in Latvia after a night of drinking. That’s right! Both are confronted in different ways with the weakness of their parents and their own inadequacies.
A melancholic film from the German-speaking world!
If the film does not get boring during its three-hour screening time, it is thanks to a fantastic cast, which also includes Anna BEDERKE, Robert GWISDEK, Saerom PARK, Saskia ROSENDAHL and Ronald ZEHRFELD. The German actors Corinna HARFOUCH (nominated for the EUROPEAN FILM AWARD 1989 for TREFFEN IN TRAVERS) and Hans Uwe BAUER received the GERMAN FILM AWARD of the year 2024 for their splendid performances. The confrontation around the coffee table between HARFOUCH and EIDINGER is one of the most impressive things that we have seen in German cinema in recent years. The Lunies family is unhappy in its own way. Haven’t we seen enough of that already?
Yes and no
Of course, as a film viewer, one wonders whether this is typically German (or at least northern German) or whether it would be possible in other cultures. But Matthias GLASNER aims very high and is inspired by great names of cinema such as Ingmar BERGMAN and Federico FELLINI. It is not for nothing that Tom Lunies prefers to watch the four-hour TV version of FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1983) on Christmas Eve. And the character played by Robert GWISDEK (in real life, HARFOUCH’s son) reminds me at least of Steiner played by Alain CUNY in LA DOLCE VITA (1959). Of course, depressing German cinema is not to everyone’s taste.
But the way the story is so close to reality has a very special impact that you absolutely have to expose yourself to
Definitely recommended!
https://hamarbazar.net/2024/10/21/ativador-do-windows-verses-dawn-todas-by-as-10-torrent/