Not one of these "so bad, it's good movies", that much is safe. Already, the film's title is a joke. The affair described in there is a play on words referring to an ecological conflict between two countries, but also about the love affair between the German Chancellor and the new French President. They spent a night together 25 years ago when the Berlin Wall fell and now meet again. Of course they do! And then there is Veronica Ferres. What is to say about her. It's a mystery how she has had an acting career for decades now as she has no range at all and always the same face expression. Always the same pouty face and inability to express emotions. Like a poor woman's Renee Zellweger and Zellweger is already pretty poor herself. All Ferres has is recognition value and that probably kept her career alive. Anyway, the entire supporting cast here is much more talented than her, not that this would be a great achievement. Special mention to Martin Brambach, who is great as always, but cannot save this film either with its horrible script and embarrassing lead performance. Brambach nails all his scenes, especially his final argument with Ferres' character.
The movie runs for slightly under 90 minutes and came out as a television release back in fall 2014. The whole introduction of Ferres' character is already cringeworthy (job exists only once in Germany) and the first random references to sex appear right away as well and keep coming back for the entire film. I won't give too many examples. I am actually grateful that I forgot most of them already, but there is talk about a dirndl and the Chancellor presenting her two juicy arguments in one scene. Horrible, just horrible. It's especially disappointing looking at the fact that the director is very experienced with television work and that the writer was in the team that came up with "Das Experiment" starring Moritz Bleibtreu. Man, that Bohlinger guy fell deep. Another lowlight scene is when Ferres' character is running away from Caroit's character in that jogging sequence. And what is it with the Italian President? Sigh. Maybe the most embarrassing parts are near the end when the film starts taking itself even more seriously and becomes a political drama (or tries to, I should say) with intrigues and power struggles. The final quote of the movie (by Ferres of course) is also as random as it gets and basically illogical, partly feminist nonsense. Veronica Ferres becomes 50 this year and this film must be one of the absolute lows of her career. I wonder if she will sink even lower with some of her next works. Honestly, I think she has it in her. Sad state of affairs. Not recommended.
The movie runs for slightly under 90 minutes and came out as a television release back in fall 2014. The whole introduction of Ferres' character is already cringeworthy (job exists only once in Germany) and the first random references to sex appear right away as well and keep coming back for the entire film. I won't give too many examples. I am actually grateful that I forgot most of them already, but there is talk about a dirndl and the Chancellor presenting her two juicy arguments in one scene. Horrible, just horrible. It's especially disappointing looking at the fact that the director is very experienced with television work and that the writer was in the team that came up with "Das Experiment" starring Moritz Bleibtreu. Man, that Bohlinger guy fell deep. Another lowlight scene is when Ferres' character is running away from Caroit's character in that jogging sequence. And what is it with the Italian President? Sigh. Maybe the most embarrassing parts are near the end when the film starts taking itself even more seriously and becomes a political drama (or tries to, I should say) with intrigues and power struggles. The final quote of the movie (by Ferres of course) is also as random as it gets and basically illogical, partly feminist nonsense. Veronica Ferres becomes 50 this year and this film must be one of the absolute lows of her career. I wonder if she will sink even lower with some of her next works. Honestly, I think she has it in her. Sad state of affairs. Not recommended.
