Kir Royal (1986) User Reviews (3)

Some of the best that (South)-German TV of the 80's had to offer

[t_atzmueller · 8/10 · 25 January 2014]

Together with the mini-series "Monaco Franze" (also directed by Helmut Dietl), "Kir Royal" was one of the finest shows produced by German TV. Whereby, we have to use the word "German" very loosely, since both shows have been produced in the free-state of Bavaria, particularly its capital Munich. Munich: fondly referred to by the locals as "the Monaco of the south" (and by non-Bavarians, so-called Prussians, as "Germanys Palermo").

See, Munich is rather unique when it comes to the parallel societies, the rigid social-hierarchy, that often reminds of the Indian caste system: You're either average working-class, lovingly referred to by the upper-class as "scum", or you're part of the "Schickeria". The "Schickeria", which consists the so-called "important people", the upper-ten-thousand, the rich, the new money, royalty, politicians, wannabes and hanger-ons. As part of the Schickeria, you have the obligation to party all night, eat only the fanciest of foods (whether you like that food or not) and, most importantly, you'll need to see your picture in next mornings newspaper. That is where boulevard-reporter Baby Schimmerlos comes in and that is what makes Baby "the king of Munich".

There are distinct similarities between Schimmerlos and the above mentioned "Monaco Franze": both are archetypal characters that you'll only find in Munich. Both are proletarians, hailing from the lower end of society and have elbowed their way into the upper-ten-thousand. But where Monaco Franze is a local Casanova, a sort of lovable scoundrel, Schimmerlos is an ice-cold, ruthless reporter, who has but one thing on his mind: to dig up as much dirt as possible, have it printed under his name and, almost more important, under his picture. Schimmerlos decides who is "in" and who is not, which makes him the untitled king-maker of the Schickeria, a man to be feared, hated but to whom you better suck up to if you want to be part of the elite.

It would be difficult to find sympathy for a character like Schimmerlos (or, in a matter of fact, for any of the shallow, duplicitous, narcissistic folk that portray the members of the Schickeria). Schimmerlos has nothing but disdain for his upper-class "friends", treats his photographer Herbie more like a manservant or a dog, his girlfriend Mona just slightly better, and his secretary Edda like a slave. Generally Baby has only sympathy for one and only one person: Baby Schimmerlos. What makes the viewer root for Schimmerlos is the excellent play by actor Franz Xaver Kroetz. Same goes for the rest of the cast, which consists only of the cream of the crop of German film, TV, comedy and cabaret.

The magic word is "satire". If you're looking for slapstick or contrived comedy, you won't find any in "Kir Royal". The comedic aspects are created purely by the situations and the characters – and if you've ever spent some time in Munich, you'll notice that all characters and situation are spot on and eerily realistic.

Another aspect that makes the show special is the fact that director Dietl and screenwriter Patrick Süskind (author of "The Perfume") knew when to stop. Unlike many modern shows, who don't shy away from churning out the most ludicrous storyline in the hope of surviving another season, "Kir Royal" says all that is has to say in six episodes.

A final word about the meaning of "Kir Royal", which is a cocktail of champagne and Crème de Cassis: if you want to be "in" you better be ready to put your 20 bucks on the table for a glass of Kir Royal (but be warned: it tastes horrible). Otherwise, when in Munich, you'll have to drink beer like the rest of the "scum".

Easily one of the best German TV series

[Ehrgeiz · 10/10 · 11 January 2015]

"Kir royal" is a German TV series about the mishappenings of society reporter and major douche bag Baby Schimmerlos (Franz Xaver Kroetz). Unfortunately it ran only for six episodes but is still regarded high by critics and the few people who saw it. And rightfully so. This series, made over 20 years ago, has still such a quality, that it makes me really angry that our TV is filled with so much mediocre stuff especially regarding series and made-for-TV movies. In a way, even in international standards, it was ahead of its time. 12 years older than Americas "South park" it featured portions of the gross out humor and touchy subjects. For the time, it was quite graphic, showing a homosexual couple lying in the bed in the second episode and in a later episode even the main actors penis. Baby Schimmerlos, greatly played by Franz Xaver Kroetz, is the reporter who loves to dig in the dirt and would do anything for stories featuring the rich and mighty. Senta Berger plays his beautiful wife Mona, who is regularly mistreated by her husband and is kind of the good conscience in the story. Herb (Dieter Hildebrandt) is Baby's photographer who seems to be nicer on the surface, but is even more amoral and cynical. Edda (Billie Zöckler) is his wise, loyal but outspoken secretary. Frau von Unruh (an also excellent Ruth Maria Kubitschek), is the somewhat naive chief editor of the newspaper, who loves dirty stories as much as to keep the image of the newspaper clean. The greatest performance was done by Kroetz himself, who had the difficult task to make the viewer sympathize with the highly unsympathetic and shallow "Baby". The series was not only bold in having a dirty language and such. In many ways, it was a satire about German-style corruption of the rich and mighty which was kind of widespread in the mid-80ies. Some of the characters Schimmerlos deals with are thinly veiled counterparts of real life personalities, like Consul Weyer, a then famous strange salesman and likely betrayer where you could buy nobility titles, in the 3rd episode. The only thing I did not like was the ending. The sixth episode was weaker and it kind of ended disastrous for the main character Schimmerlos. Unfortunately, the series was never picked up, but director Helmut Dietl and writer Patrick Süskind tried to use the formula several times later - but never to the efficiency of "Kir Royal."

Never feels as funny, authentic or creative as I hoped it would

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 23 January 2018]

"Kir Royal" is a West German German-language mini-series from 1986 and this one is now already over 30 years old. It was the last (mini-)series effort by writer and director Helmut Dietl who was in his early 40s at that point and who sadly died about two years ago. His popularity in Germany arising from previous projects was undeniable, so it should not be a surprise to anybody that he got some big names in here. The central character is played by Kroetz, who is not unknown, but also not as famous as some of his co-stars like Berger, Hildebrandt, Kubitschek, Zischler, Selge, Raab, Kier, Adorf and others, even if some of them only appeared in one episode. The entire thing consists of six episodes that all run for slightly under an hour, so you can see this one in less than six hours in one sitting if you have the patience or the "Sitzfleisch" as we say here in Germany. But maybe 3 sittings of under 2 hours may be the better choice. Or just don't watch it at all as honestly I really didn't think it was that good. The core of the film was the ways in which the German (especially Southern German high society) is depicted in here. But honestly, even if this was clearly intended as a satire, I must say that I would not be surprised if some of the cast members here actually were in real life like the characters they make fun of because honestly there are quite a few cast members seen in here, who gently-speaking have a degree of fame and popularity that is not justified by their talent or range (or lack thereof). This is basically a mix of comedy and drama overall. We also get an insight in the world of journalism and journalist who, against better knowledge, keep these celebrities famous and profit themselves from that too. This actually is an interesting reference to today's world of news and headlines in Germany where you will find, even on respected news websites, permanent articles about people who have no business being famous (Katzenberger, Lombardis, Thomalla², "influencers" etc.), so the series here may actually be ahead of its time and still applies 3 decades later. This is one of not too many positive things I can say here as the insight into the Schickeria we get here is as shallow and superficial as the people it parodizes. It is never a convincing character study about Baby Schimmerlos or any of the supportingf characters who better should have been left out as there is a great deal of mediocrity (or worse) in here when it comes to character writing. Dietl also wrote the script with his longtime collaborator Süskind and Kurt Raab, a little while after his mentor Fassbinder's death, also delivered his personal take on the story on one occasion. Overall, there aren't any episodes that stand out positively. It starts werak, stays weak and ends weak and I would rate them all the same I rated the entire 6-part series. I guess that's all I can say here and I do not agree with the rating here on imdb at all or with the mention that this is among Dietl's best career efforts and/or Germany's best mini-series. Skip the watch here. You won't be missing anything of quality. I give Kir Royal a thumbs-down.