Bliss (2012) User Reviews (5)

Happiness

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 4 March 2013]

Imagine Irina's shock returning home and finding her parents slain. The invasion of troops in her ideally, and serene world, is shattered in an instant. Irina must abandon her surroundings, fleeing to an unknown land, where in order to make a living, she must resort to prostitute herself to survive in her new environment. It is a sordid world, quite the opposite to where Irina grew up among a loving family.

Two things happen to Irina that will mark her forever. She meets a homeless man, Kalle, who has given up because perhaps a lack of jobs, living in the streets, and the chance encounter with defense lawyer, Noah Leyden. Both men will have important roles when Irina needs them, for love, and legal help.

The wonderful Doris Dorrie, the distinguished German director, outdoes herself in this portrait of despair and finding ultimately the bliss of the title. Ms Dorrie, who wrote the adaptation of Ferninand Von Schirach novel, shows affinity to the material and what she is able to do with it. She gets amazing performances from all her principals, showing the hard realities of the life on the streets and the love of Irina and Kalle that transcends multiple obstacles, both finding happiness in their inhospitable world.

The casting of Alba Rohrwacher, as Irina, pays off in surprising ways. This actress has been making a name for herself in the Italian cinema, but she is perfectly at home working in a different language. She shows an inner strength and an uncommon tenderness toward the kind man who falls in love with her. Vinzenz Kiefer, seen as Kalle, is effective as the homeless man. Mr. Kiefer shows a natural talent in creating his character. Mathias Brandt appears as the lawyer who makes it possible for Irina and Kalle to remain together, as they clearly are meant to share the bliss they find in each other.

Another triumph for Ms Dorrie and a film that stays in the viewer's mind for quite a long time.

different

[Vincentiu · 27 October 2013]

a novel adaptation. convincing, powerful, delicate, touching. not only for bitter story, bizarre, impressive, like a calligraphic line but for interesting performance. Alba Rohrwacher, Vinzenz Kiefer explore each side of roles and give not only an impeccable acting demonstration but a new light who covers ordinary details. more than a love story, gray, hard, gloomy, it is a precise image about the need of the other. about lost in yourself, about high of words, about sacrifice and decisions who reflects an empty soul world. it is a different love story and a beautiful salted movie. that is all. not great, not unique. only different as result of a director manner to create perfect skin for words and images and to chose the ideal cast for its admirable project.

Review

[NikolicJovan · 3/10 · 27 November 2015]

Last few days I was wondering what film should I watch and while I was browsing my collection, I noticed 'Glück' a.k.a. 'Bliss'. And even though European cinema is in decline last few years, I couldn't believe that I will be that disappointed. I mean, I watch films carefully, eliminating all prejudices, trying to be as open as possible for all new experiences.

The story takes place in Berlin, where young Irina takes shelter from war in her country (not depicted in any way, viewer never knows which country it is). She meets Kalle, homeless young guy her age and they quickly get familiar with each other starting relationship. She finds no other way to keep her alive than being prostitute, while he is trying his best to keeps them together.

It is hard for me to start any analysis of film as it is so bad, on all levels. The tension doesn't exists, there are numerous director's (Doris Dörrie) artsy-fartsy attempts, the characters aren't developed carefully thus whole time while I was watching the film I felt like I am watching weak episode of even more weak TV series. Their emotions are forced, their relation unconvincing and the worst moment in film was the very first scene when Irina got hit by a car; the man came out of the car and started opening narration... Now, that was completely unconvincing as his words seemed like cheap commercial rather than honest thoughts. For the most part, I perceived the film like very, very lame attempt to transmit the message: 'look, this is what love looks like; it is all pain, immolation, frustration but at the end, it will always be good'.

I don't need film to talk to me. I don't need it to explain or pretend. It is even better if it doesn't have any 'intentions'. I am very well aware with that fact that it is matter of individual differences in perception - but I need film to be honest. Nothing less.

Not a bad movie.

[floresbator · 10/10 · 6 July 2013]

Andrea Sawatzki, Kalles mutter. Is that so? Wo? Irina's drama is profound and it somehow symbolizes the fate of Eastern European as a whole. Just in this movie it is presented as being pointless. But this "fate" is meant to destroy the strong roots of those who live plainly by conducting a series of ancestral moral and transcendental principles which are inconvenient for the globalist politics of implementation of new age principles such as political correctness, tolerance, etc. The idea of a vegetarian, who could not stand the sight of a raw chicken, slaying a corpse with an electric knife, simply made me laugh, against the macabre situation of the scene.

I did not find happiness by watching this movie

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 3 June 2017]

"Glück" or "Bliss" is a German 110-minute movie from 2012, so this one has its 5th anniversary this year. It was written and directed by Doris Dörrie and this is certainly also the main reason why it is still somewhat well-known, at least to film buffs here in Germany. The cast includes some names of prolific and experienced performers as well, but i would say that none of the are probably on the same level as Dörrie in terms of how known they are. Anyway, this is actually the first movie project apparently that is based on the works of Ferdinand von Schirach and his creative writing has been used for more than just a few projects since 2012. Dörrie of course also adapted his work here for the screen. The most known cast members are probably Brandt and Kroymann, maybe Rohrwacher and Kiefer close behind for younger audiences. And the latter two are also in the center of it all as they play a duo who really struggle with life. The girl is a refugee without a permit to live and stay in Germany and she has to sleep with men to get enough money for a living. The man is a young homeless who has to beg every single day. But this desperation also results in them eventually having a great bond and truly becoming an item that stands up for one another, even when the law is against them.

Unfortunately, this theoretically solid story never really reaches greatness in terms of emotion and dramatic impact, even if Dörrie is clearly trying to do so. Instead the film loses itself when it comes to details, like the ridiculous story of one guy dying through sex, the consequence that they cut him into pieces afterward and finally the lawyer who somehow manages to justify this gruesome act. I am perfectly fine with dramatic tension, but you have to stay close to reality too and the way how self-sacrificing Brandt's character is in here really felt over the top just as a consequence of that early accident. I somehow don't feel we would see him defend them in real life. This is especially sad because this story line is all there is to Brandt's character, the good Samaritan, and I think he is a really good and underrated actor and it sucks to see him wasted with material like that. Kroymann was equally wasted, but at least they did not even try to depict her to have any impact in this movie, even if she of course has to make a fateful decision at the end. There is whole movies that center around the subject of marrying, so that somebody won't be expelled, but here they rushed this reference just in at the very end to make sure the ending really feels happy and feel-good, even if once again it may not have to do anything with reality and authenticity.

I think that Dörrie has some works in her long career that I liked and some that did not appeal to me at all. This one is on the lower end. it is luckily not as much of a mess as her recent Fukushima work, also because the actors are somewhat fine, but it is also far from a level where I would say that you can check it out. Or even should check it out. I found it very mediocre and simple with the explanations and elaboration it sends to audiences. The attempt at depth in terms of both characters and story-telling did not work out. Instead it is going for cheap thrills and equally cheap solutions. I suggest you stay away.