"Im Schatten des Pferdemondes", which means "In the Shadow of the Horse Moon", is a German television film from 2010, so this one has its 10th anniversary. Not a date to be proud of though. The failures already begin with the title here. There is no references to this astronomic phenomenon in this movie, so it is all pretentious. Of course, there are many horses in here, but this does not explain the title either. And yep, this is indeed a German German-language film although it was made in Britain and also takes place there as you see for example through the pompous British names the characters have in here. Although you cannot really blame the filmmakers for this because they took the names probably directly from the book this is based on. According to imdb, these 1.5 hours are the only film adaptation of one of Evita Wolff's works and looking how bad they really were, that is definitely a good thing. I have not read it, but I am fairly certain that the base material is not much better than the movie, if at all. The director is Michael Steinke, who was in his mid-60s when he made this film and if you see that his most known works include Rosamunde Pilcher and Inga Lindström adaptations as well as "Das Traumschiff", then you know immediately what quality to expect here. Or what lack of quality. The writers are nothing better. Even two of them worked on the script. Gunter Friedrich had not worked on a script in over 20 years before that, but directed mostly. Felix Huby is a full-time writer, but if you see that his efforts include "Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten" and his colleague's include "Sturm der Liebe", then it is easy to understand that their lack of talent is as massive as the director's and this project was doomed from the beginning. Pseudo romance drama with zero authenticity or creativity to it with the only intention to make the viewers even more stupid, if that is even possible because if they decide to watch this film (and not for educational purposes like I did), then they really break every stupidity scale already. Luckily, the director and both writers were basically at the end of their long careers at that point and have not worked in film for a long time and probably never will again looking at their ages, even if they are apparently still alive. On the other hand, this makes it even more shocking to see how they are so experienced and yet this level we have here is what they were still stuck with.
The cast is not any better. The name Catherine Flemming is one that is easy to recognize. I have seen her in other stuff and normally her inclusion is almost a guarantee for a film to suck. This one here is definitely not an exception. Although it is absolutely not just her, but everybody else as well who is either pretty bad or held back by the abysmal script. Also don't be fooled by the inclusion of "Mad Men" actor Philippe Brenninkmeyer in the lead. He is not good either. You can only excuse so much by the script though because nobody forced the actor(s) to appear in this movie. Anyway, as for Brenninkmeyer, his character could hardly be more gimmicky. He knows so well about horses, they are treasures to him. He managed early on to get a horse into such strong shape to win races, which it never managed before. When he is not busy helping suffering horses, then he plays the piano or loves to go to the theater. The cringe. What a distinguished man! One thing they totally forgot here though is the questionable idea of horse racing as a whole in terms of animal abuse, doping etc. But of course, they wanted to keep the film simple here and not make a statement. The highly shallow result is in fact a film where only you can appreciate the beautiful horses at times, but the story and all human characters are utter nonsense. Actually, the horse stories are idiotic as well. The mare's illness has nothing to do with reality or biology and the two studs and their ego struggles and potential fatherhood ideas are just as bad. As for the humans again, Suzan Anbeh is of course pretty good-looking, or at least was back then, but her character is also a joke. The banter between her and the horse doctor early on is incredibly cringeworthy. Of course, out smart horse doctor knows immediately what is wrong with his body when she treats him. And of course, he leaves the hospital early because he has to save horses. And of course, depsite being much older and still injured, he is able to take on the young guy in a fight at the end. And although he fights him, he has all mercy and kindness for him when he basically acts as a mediator to save the man from prison which would 100% ruin his future. Ah so terrible everything really here. As for Anbeh's character, she also gets her rushed-in dramatic story line about a struggling family member. As for Flemming's character: The longer the film goes, the more she is reduced to begging for the man's attention, trying to get him drunk, flirting with him etc. But all he wants is the other doctor. By the way, Petra Kelling is in here as well, but she just plays a minor character. Another actress whose films suck most of the time. Finally, the movie of course ends with the big drama, the arson, the fire that of course everybody comes out of unharmed, also the animals and the bad guy is not stomped by the raging horse, but saved by our mesmerizing horse doctor. Sigh. I think I end now, you get the message. Everything here including the conflicts involving the old man (Flemming's character's father) is on the same garbage level like the aforementioned Pilcher and Lindström movies. Miles and miley away from a mediocre movie, actually miles and miles away from a weak movie as well because the only accurate description here is that this is truly a garbage film. Highly not recommended. Don't do this to yourself. It also feels much longer than it actually is because of how bad it is.
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