"Matthiesens Töchter" is a German television movie from spring 2016, so it is getting closer to its 5th anniversary and maybe it happened already depending on when you read this review. The director is Titus Selge, who has worked in the film industry for roughly 20 years now and the script is by Sathyan Ramesh, who also has written screenplays for approximately two decades. looking at both their bodies of work, I would say that Selge has the better one as it sounds as if some of Ramesh's projects fall more into the category of Herzkino/Schmonzetten. Here in Germany, this is what we call cringeworthy unrealistic romance films. Anyway, I think things work out nicely overall here. This has not too much to do with lead actor Matthias Habich and honestly he does not even have that much screen time. Still not too surprising because his character's three daughters are also mentioned in the titile and they are what the film is about at its core. Julia Jäger is maybe the most known from the trio. i will spare you the rest of the names, but if you like German movies, then maybe you have seen some of the others in other projects as well. As for the story, we have an old man who just wants his quiet and lives on a farm in the countryside, but one day his three grown-up daughters show up. They are far from the same age all of them, so they are also at different stages in their lives and on one occasion we have a quote that went like they are only there because they have nowhere else to go and to see how the women (dis)agreed was somewhat funny, even if it is also a bit of a serious statement.
But this is where the film's overall strength really was. It did a fine job in combining comedy with more serious moments, be it in terms of the farm maybe getting sold or as for the girls' deceased mother. Okay that plot idea that the bank is about to buy the farm/property is one we gat in many German films and these are somewhat the main antagonist, but here it is relatively light. For me, this plot was worth it alone for Martin Brambach playing the bank manager and I like him a lot as an actor. Still this was nothing too serious really as towards the end, we have one of the daughters flirting with the guy and you wonder if she only does it because she wants that he does not take away the farm from them, but as we see in almost the last scene at a party, maybe she actually likes him. She also likes her nephew, but not in a way that he would want her to like him. So yes he is crushing on his somewhat hot aunt. Now this is already a bit of a taboo that you normally would not have seen in German television films, especially those that fit the two German descriptions I listed above, and this alone shows that here we have a somewhat bold and unusual approach at times to German television. Same is also true about the funny bank robbery scene towards the end that almost has a sexual component when the old guy asks the bank employee if she likes it the hard way and how she smiles afterwards. This film is definitely on the politically correct side and this makes it a pretty good watch at times. I think that it gets a lot better in the second half. The character introduction was not always as good as it could have been and also how they all show up at the same time there is a bit unrealistic. Then also in the second half still we get the usual arguments, between the women and her dad, but also between the women with each other and the almost expected idea that they are about to leave the farm, but then still decide to stay, even if the old man is not too happy about it. Or maybe he just isn't good at showing us. He's a but of a grumpy guy, so you won't see him confess his love to his daughters obviously. This is listed as a western here. How unusual, a western from Germany, especially for the small screen. Been a long time since I stumbled about that. Now I don't know if it is accurate, but costumes and some of the music and maybe also the location work well enough for this genre categorization. I still enjoyed the film the most when it ent full comedy. The humor is not for everyone, but I would just like to mention one scene when one character complains that there is only one television channel available and he has to go to the TV every time he wants to switch channels and his mother rightfully wonders why he wants to change channels when there is only one. Okay, he probably meant that he wants to switch it off, but still his face expression was pretty priceless there. All in all, the comedy also works this well because I felt the film does not take itself seriously at all and this was pretty nice to see. Despite my struggles with this film early on (where admittedly it wasn't bad either, just a bit on the weak side), I will give it a positive recommendation. Entertaining little movie and if you get a chance to see them, I suggest you give these 90 minutes a chance. Also pretty funny and creative how they played with us towards the end with the male protagonist's potential death, even if maybe his daughter all of a sudden having a writing career out of nowhere did feel a bit unrealistic and forced to make the ending happier than necessary. Thumbs up. And nice Peter Fox song by the way, great tribute to my city.
But this is where the film's overall strength really was. It did a fine job in combining comedy with more serious moments, be it in terms of the farm maybe getting sold or as for the girls' deceased mother. Okay that plot idea that the bank is about to buy the farm/property is one we gat in many German films and these are somewhat the main antagonist, but here it is relatively light. For me, this plot was worth it alone for Martin Brambach playing the bank manager and I like him a lot as an actor. Still this was nothing too serious really as towards the end, we have one of the daughters flirting with the guy and you wonder if she only does it because she wants that he does not take away the farm from them, but as we see in almost the last scene at a party, maybe she actually likes him. She also likes her nephew, but not in a way that he would want her to like him. So yes he is crushing on his somewhat hot aunt. Now this is already a bit of a taboo that you normally would not have seen in German television films, especially those that fit the two German descriptions I listed above, and this alone shows that here we have a somewhat bold and unusual approach at times to German television. Same is also true about the funny bank robbery scene towards the end that almost has a sexual component when the old guy asks the bank employee if she likes it the hard way and how she smiles afterwards. This film is definitely on the politically correct side and this makes it a pretty good watch at times. I think that it gets a lot better in the second half. The character introduction was not always as good as it could have been and also how they all show up at the same time there is a bit unrealistic. Then also in the second half still we get the usual arguments, between the women and her dad, but also between the women with each other and the almost expected idea that they are about to leave the farm, but then still decide to stay, even if the old man is not too happy about it. Or maybe he just isn't good at showing us. He's a but of a grumpy guy, so you won't see him confess his love to his daughters obviously. This is listed as a western here. How unusual, a western from Germany, especially for the small screen. Been a long time since I stumbled about that. Now I don't know if it is accurate, but costumes and some of the music and maybe also the location work well enough for this genre categorization. I still enjoyed the film the most when it ent full comedy. The humor is not for everyone, but I would just like to mention one scene when one character complains that there is only one television channel available and he has to go to the TV every time he wants to switch channels and his mother rightfully wonders why he wants to change channels when there is only one. Okay, he probably meant that he wants to switch it off, but still his face expression was pretty priceless there. All in all, the comedy also works this well because I felt the film does not take itself seriously at all and this was pretty nice to see. Despite my struggles with this film early on (where admittedly it wasn't bad either, just a bit on the weak side), I will give it a positive recommendation. Entertaining little movie and if you get a chance to see them, I suggest you give these 90 minutes a chance. Also pretty funny and creative how they played with us towards the end with the male protagonist's potential death, even if maybe his daughter all of a sudden having a writing career out of nowhere did feel a bit unrealistic and forced to make the ending happier than necessary. Thumbs up. And nice Peter Fox song by the way, great tribute to my city.
