"Finsterworld" is Frauke Finsterwalder's first fictional film after two documentaries. On the one hand, the title is a play of words with her surname (translated Finsterwood), on the other it uses the German term for "gloomy". And this is a nice description for the general tone of the movie. It's really a bit of a nightmarish world and you could certainly make a point for putting this in the horror genre, at first really more subtle, but towards the end drama ensues on all fronts (some catastrophic, some minor). The film features a prominent cast, especially looking at the female actors: Sandra Hüller is one of the greatest German talents since "Requiem" (always reminds me a bit of Michelle Williams), Carla Juri just had her big breakthrough in Charlotte Roche's "Feuchtgebiete", Margit Carstensen is experience personified and already starred in Fassbinder's films back in the 70s and Corinna Harfouch may be the closest we have to Meryl Streep with lots of excellent performances under her belt (the most known possibly Magda Goebbels in "Der Untergang").
So all the ingredients are there, right? Well, unfortunately not. While the world created in the first 75 minutes was surely an interesting one and not really too different from ours with everybody having their very own flaws, the director seemed eager to end it with a bang on almost all fronts and sadly sacrificed credibility and tension for it. The outcast seems to have really no purpose in the story than to shoot the boy in the car near the end exactly when he discovers his very own path out of his chains. Quite the irony. What I liked though was the final scene of the Sandberg family, who's pretty much the center of the film and creates links to all sub-stories, at the nursing home. It teaches us to care for our elderly before it's too late. The storyline with Zehrfeld and Hüller as a couple, however, did add absolutely nothing to the movie, even if it was well-acted, and I got the feeling it was really only in there for the furry-part to kinda shock and amuse the audience at the same time. It just was not interesting at all. Actually I'd say, the two would have rather deserved their own film showing his police-work and fetishes and her job struggles, but the way it was displayed here, it just felt rushed in there shoddily with no real character development. Admittedly, the final shot at the bench was not too bad, maybe the best thing about their story.
As a whole, the movie suffered from too many incongruencies (yes it was weird and supposed to be so, but still) and here and there even a glaring plot hole. The shooting was unnecessary, the pushing into the chamber as well and I just can't believe the teacher could end up as the scapegoat anyhow. He freed her and, even if the situation could indeed have been misinterpreted initially, there's no way Juri's character wouldn't say that he got her out and she did not see who pushed her in. Of course it's the guys who keep bullying her and her friend all the time. That was really the main problem I had with the ending, not that she pretty much turned into "normal" afterward again, but how it all unfolded. Even if I didn't really like the film, I'd like to end it on a positive note. The Cat Stevens song used at the start and end was a nice inclusion and "Finsterworld" is packed with many interesting movie references.
So all the ingredients are there, right? Well, unfortunately not. While the world created in the first 75 minutes was surely an interesting one and not really too different from ours with everybody having their very own flaws, the director seemed eager to end it with a bang on almost all fronts and sadly sacrificed credibility and tension for it. The outcast seems to have really no purpose in the story than to shoot the boy in the car near the end exactly when he discovers his very own path out of his chains. Quite the irony. What I liked though was the final scene of the Sandberg family, who's pretty much the center of the film and creates links to all sub-stories, at the nursing home. It teaches us to care for our elderly before it's too late. The storyline with Zehrfeld and Hüller as a couple, however, did add absolutely nothing to the movie, even if it was well-acted, and I got the feeling it was really only in there for the furry-part to kinda shock and amuse the audience at the same time. It just was not interesting at all. Actually I'd say, the two would have rather deserved their own film showing his police-work and fetishes and her job struggles, but the way it was displayed here, it just felt rushed in there shoddily with no real character development. Admittedly, the final shot at the bench was not too bad, maybe the best thing about their story.
As a whole, the movie suffered from too many incongruencies (yes it was weird and supposed to be so, but still) and here and there even a glaring plot hole. The shooting was unnecessary, the pushing into the chamber as well and I just can't believe the teacher could end up as the scapegoat anyhow. He freed her and, even if the situation could indeed have been misinterpreted initially, there's no way Juri's character wouldn't say that he got her out and she did not see who pushed her in. Of course it's the guys who keep bullying her and her friend all the time. That was really the main problem I had with the ending, not that she pretty much turned into "normal" afterward again, but how it all unfolded. Even if I didn't really like the film, I'd like to end it on a positive note. The Cat Stevens song used at the start and end was a nice inclusion and "Finsterworld" is packed with many interesting movie references.