This is a 90-minute television movie from 2.5 years ago. The film's director and writer worked on "Der rote Baron" before. Also his co-writer has a respectable body of work including "Stauffenberg" and "Mogadischu", some of Germany's most known television films in recent years and she has been in the film industry since the early 1990s. However, this film here really has no great script, or acting or anything else. When Senta Berger gets her first big solo moment around minute 6, you know where this is headed already and how she surprises her ex-husband during her speech is exactly the material of which bad films are made. Even indirectly, this all centers on Berger. Martinek is 10 years younger in this film than she really is which makes Berger also younger than she really is, even if she does not look that way. Martinek is super-intelligent, successful etc. which is intended to imply what a great mother Berger's character was and how good her genes are. Of course, Berger's character intrudes in her daughter's wedding plans and of course she is correct that her daughter does not intend to marry the right guy.
Predictability is also a great concern here. Martinek's character gets together with the bearded guy and Berger's and von Thun's characters also become a couple again in the end. According to the priest, they were always married anyway, so... Then looking at the bearded guy, of course he is a great catch too as he is a bestseller author on the New York Times list and not only once, no multiple times, which has to make him one of Germany's most known writers. The wedding at the end is the negative highlight. The camera switches to the bearded guy and we are supposed to be surprised that this is the one she actually marries. No, we are not. This was probably the most cringeworthy moment of the film, especially with her ex seemingly being the best man and standing right next to the couple smiling happily. What the hell? Now, of course this is not the final scene as the filmmakers have to make sure that Senta Berger also gets the last scene in the movie. After all, she is top-billed, so completely randomly we move forward a bit in time and see Berger's and von Thun's character in a train to holidays in Russia. Boring movie, all predictable and occasionally cringeworthy. Berger and von Thun almost always play the same characters these days, so if you have seen one film with them, you have pretty much seen them all. There is a sequel to this film here which came out only roughly half a year later, but I have to say from what I saw here I have no motivation to watch this next chapter. Not recommended.
2 out of 2 found this helpful