If you have seen one Maria Furtwängler movie, you have seen them all. This 2011 two-part mini series which runs for slightly under 200 minutes makes no difference here. Once again, she plays the perfect self-confident woman. The men want her (actually before minute 10 again), the women too. She does not want to be subdued by anybody. She is against the Nazis. She is a feminist. She is an altruist (does not want more money, just more help from new employees). She's very creative and talented etc. It's just really embarrassing. In addition to her not taking any risks, she is not a particularly gifted actress either. She just has her niche in which she gets cast again and again. As these movies do not come out all the time, she is also not the most prolific actress out there and frequently has breaks of 1 year or 2 between projects.
You could split this one into two parts: the first 90 minutes are about life during the Nazi years, the second 90 minutes are about Life during a split Germany. The only thing I really liked about this movie was the music, good classical selections and also the Cabaret and Opera singing was pretty nicely done. So if anything, this film is a pleasure to the ears. But there is nothing new about the story at all and it sure does not help that Furtwängler is in every scene from start till end of the film, but almost always has the same face expression. Subtlety has never been her strength. Director Miguel Alexandre did a pretty decent job with what he was given here, while Thomas Kirchner's script (adapted from the Uwe-Karsten Heye novel) rarely wowed me. Maybe it would have with a better lead actress, I don't know. Anyway, final verdict: not recommended.
You could split this one into two parts: the first 90 minutes are about life during the Nazi years, the second 90 minutes are about Life during a split Germany. The only thing I really liked about this movie was the music, good classical selections and also the Cabaret and Opera singing was pretty nicely done. So if anything, this film is a pleasure to the ears. But there is nothing new about the story at all and it sure does not help that Furtwängler is in every scene from start till end of the film, but almost always has the same face expression. Subtlety has never been her strength. Director Miguel Alexandre did a pretty decent job with what he was given here, while Thomas Kirchner's script (adapted from the Uwe-Karsten Heye novel) rarely wowed me. Maybe it would have with a better lead actress, I don't know. Anyway, final verdict: not recommended.