Review of Too Hard to Handle

"Mängelexemplar" is a new German movie from this year, which is the first full feature film written and directed by Laura Lackmann Popescu. She adapted television personality Sarah Kuttner's novel for the screen here and I must say apart from some minor flaws, she did a pretty good job here, especially looking at her lack of experience. But she is also very lucky they got Claudia Eisinger here for the main part as I felt she was perfect for the role. She is basically in every single scene, often nobody else than her, for 105 minutes and she carries the film on her shoulders. I may be a bit biased as I have known and liked her (also a lot physically) in several previous projects. And she is really excellent in here from start to finish. That is also why I must say I am pretty surprised that she was not nominated for a German Film Awards (or even won) in the ceremony that took place yesterday. Instead, supporting actress Laura Tonke won a supporting trophy for her portrayal here and I cannot say I agree with that. She was not bad and her character was very present in the last third of the film, but it was not that impressive, neither her performance nor the way the character was written. I guess they just really wanted to honor her because she also won the lead actress prize. If anybody from the supporting cast convinced me here, then it was Katja Riemann, who played the main character's mother. She nailed the part nicely, in terms of drama and comedy. And this was actually a major achievement as comedy is not this film's greatest strength. This genre is probably where it was at its weakest. There are many attempts at subtle humor in here and not even half of them are working nicely. The rest feels just included for the sake of it and, as a consequence, leaves a bit of a sour note. And, in general, it is far from a perfect movie. It sometimes a bit shoddy in terms of the dramatic moments, but like I said Eisinger elevates the material by a lot. In general, I would say it was a pretty well-done elaboration and film on and about a young woman who has severe psychological struggles with herself, her friends, her men and her family. The ending came a bit abrupt after the meltdown with the male shrink and it was not really happy I guess. Also the parts of the inner child did not get me too curious and I would have preferred the film without them especially as they did not work so well as a frame at the very start and ending. But these are just minor criticisms that should not keep you from watching this film if you like German movies. Thumbs up from me.