User Reviews

"3 Tage in Quiberon" or "3 Days in Quiberon" is a new co-production between Austria, Germany and France and actually, this film had its wide release today. It runs for slightly under 2 hours and is the most recent work by Berlin writer and director Emily Atef and if we can trust the German Film Awards, then this movie is in for a great deal of awards recognition in the next couple months, maybe year. It is a black-and-white film by the way and I think it is tough to say if that was the right choice. Normally, I am tempted to like black-and-white and I also liked it here somehow, but it would also have been a good film in color in my opinion, perhaps even a better film in color. The subject here is actress Romy Schneider in the last stages of her career and sadly also life. She is at a clinic in Quiberon trying to clean her body, but as she keeps taking pills and drinking alcohol in-between, there is really no great success there. The main character is played by actress Maria Bäumer and I would lie if I said that I like her as an actress. I think she is pretty limited, even if this one here is not a horrible performance by her. I guess her nude scenes also helped her with her approval here. You get to see everything except full frontal. The great strength is definitely how incredibly similar she looks to Schneider, even if she certainly comes nowhere near her talent. But the film does not live through Bäumer's Schneider, but through the supporting characters. Minichmayr is brilliant as usual and she does so much acting with her face only that you'd constantly wonder what's going on in her head. Hübner plays an interesting character too and I'd have been fine with him scoring a German Film Award nomination too. He is the only one that was snubbed. And Gwisdek shines as a reporter in here and he is maybe my favorite cast member and his voice really sounds a lot like Herbst's. Anyway, I think all three supporting characters draw their own advantage from spending time with Schneider and yet they are all somehow in awe of her and don't want to hurt her. Be it through the unspectacularf woman enjoying the priviliges of the high society while still being a really good friend. Or the journalist who wants his career and impactful article, but still gives Schneider the chance to cut out segments that she doesn't want in it. Or the old friend/lover who is still attracted to Schneider and may care about her, but also cares about his sexual desires.

I think there is one moment that summarizes very well why Schneider is so broken at that point. It's the massive gap between being a woman in the spotlight more than anybody else while being very sensitive and very intimate at the same time. It had to destroy her as well as her relationship with her kids. I think the subject here is really interesting and even if somebody who is too young to experience the Romy Schneider phenomenon first hand, I still can find the myth. i also liked the very last words about her eternal beauty before the closing credits roll in. The film never dragged much and that's always good for such a long movie. I also think that it was a good decision to check this one out and especially if you care about Schneider or the Sissi trilogy, it's very much worth seeing especially to understand that there is more about the young beautiful girl, a lot more. Like you see in the one scene when she is asked (by Denis Lavant's character) if she is Sissi and responds in French that she is Romy Schneider. A career-defining performance and a curse at the very same time because it was just impossible for the actress to do justice to the innocent character she once played and was still seen by everybody. There are small references to Romy's parents, especially her mother, but i think that was fine and enough as these characters never appear in the movie. Heartbreaking near the end to see how she cannot even talk to her son on the phone. Maybe I would not say that it was a film as great as many people say it is, but I was genuinely well-entertained from start to finish.. I also believe it is really a great character study, not just when it comes to Bäumer's central character, but also when it comes to the three people by her side in this good achievement. Go check it out if you get a chance. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. It sometimes is a painful watch to see how emotionally and physically fragile the main character is, but that does not take a way from its class whatsoever. on the contrary actually.

Quick correction: Of course, Hübner was nominated for a German Film Award as well. I must have overlooked him. Congrats to the three acting winners and Emily Atef for their trophies as well as this movie winning the big prize. Should be one to watch the coming year globally too at awards ceremonies.

This, alas, is the kind of film that receives only a token showing in England when the quality on display deserves blanket release. On the other hand we must learn to be thankful for small mercies and at least it has actually played in the UK. I am a regular filmgoer and if it were possible I would watch many many more 'art house' films than multiplex fodder, alas, the ratio is stacked the other way. Prior to watching Three Days In Quiburon I was unable to name anyone in front of or behind the camera with the obvious exception of Romy Schneider herself who does not, of course, appear onther than in the brilliant incarnation of Marie Baumer who gives a performance that is BEYOND Oscar worthy which probably means she will be overlooked even for a nomination but it is both fair and true to say that everyone involved, especially the four leads are exceptional. Miss it at your loss.

Romy Schneider is nowadays a legend. Along with James Dean, Gerard Philipe, Heath Ledger, John Belushi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, she is part of that tragic gallery of actors who lived too short and died before they could perform all the roles for which their great talents were destined. The actress, born in Vienna in 1938, combined beauty and talent in her person, both of which were completely extraordinary. She lived and loved intensely. She worked with some of the most famous directors of the 20th century, she had as partners on screen many of the great actors of her times. Her personal life was sprinkled with romantic episodes and tragedies, the actress being constantly followed by the press in search of sensations. Austria, the country where she was born, Germany where she reached fame at a very young age, and France where she sought freedom and artistic achievement perceived her very differently. German filmmaker Emily Atef has written and directed an interesting and moving film, which focuses on the dramas that followed the actress in the last part of her too short life, capturing a moment of personal crisis. In a way, the fact that '3 Days in Quiberon' is the first film dedicated to her is surprising, because Romy Schneider is far from forgotten.

This film is not a biopic, although we find out many new things about the actress' biography. The story focuses on three days in the spring of 1981, when Romy Schneider (Marie Bäumer) was undergoing a detox (alcohol, unhealthy eating, depression) treatment at a hotel-sanatorium in Quiberon, on the Breton shores of the Atlantic. She is visited by Hilde (Birgit Minichmayr), a childhood friend who is worried about her physical and especially her psychological condition. A German journalist, Michael Jürgs (Robert Gwisdek), famous for the way he manages to manipulate celebrities to squeeze from them information worthy of the interest of the sensationalist public, comes to interview her, the first interview for the German press after many years of breakup with the public in this country. He is accompanied by photographer Robert Lebeck (Charly Hübner), an old friend ofRomy and perhaps more than that. The interview and especially the intrusive methods of the reporter bring to surface traumas from the actress' past (he life as a teen star, relationships with parents, the first husband who committed suicide) and accentuate the current reasons for depression (separation from second husband, inability to be a good mother). The four characters engage in a cruel dance of dialogues that contain truths and appearances. Hilde tries to protect Romy from the manipulation techniques of the journalists, but the actress feels the need to reveal herself and reconnect with a part of her audience. In three days, the four of them get to know each other better, and we, as spectators, get more than a glimpse of the intimacy of the actress' feelings.

'3 Days in Quiberon' oscillates somewhere between docu-drama and melodrama. It is easy to empathize with the fate of the actress - crushed by her own fame, unlucky in her personal life, eager to control her life but insecure about her ability to do it independently. It would be a good soap opera subject, but screenwriter and director Emily Atef avoided this trap with a rigorous documentary research and a careful analysis of Romy Schneider's personality and the problems she faced. The 1981 interview was the starting point for describing the three days. I don't know if the personal relationships described in the film were real, for example the suggested idyll between the actress and the photographer, but they are credible. The added elements are authentic and moving. The scene of the getaway of the four in the small town by the ocean, with the meeting with the locals who adore the actress, with her friendly and open attitude to them, is one of the most beautiful scenes I've seen lately in movies. It also benefits from Denis Lavant's contribution in an exceptional 'cameo' role. The final is a kind of happy ending with sarcastic nuances. It seems like a reconciliation and a possible new beginning, but those who are familiar with the actress' biography know that her teenage son she was talking to on the phone in the movie was going to die in a few months, and that Romy herself was going to die a year later, in circumstances that have not been fully elucidated.

The reconstruction of the era is extremely precise, both in terms of sets and ambiance. The cinematography signed by Thomas W. Kiennast contributes to the sensation of docu-drama, with the use of the hend-held camera in many scenes and in black and white which is more of a style decision here, because had filming been real in the early '80s, they would have used color film, even for a documentary. Marie Bäumer is great in the role of Romy Schneider. The physical resemblance is amazing and the actress merges in the role of her predecessor. The rest of the acting team plays in the same natural style and in many moments I lost the feeling that I was watching a fiction film and not a filmed interview or a (good) reality TV show. I recommend the movie. Those who loved and admired Romy Schneider will add information and emotions to those already accumulated, and for the others it is a good opportunity to meet a woman who was a unhappy in her private life, but an admirable actress on screen and especially to search and see her movies.

Last week, I watched 3 days of German Director Emily Atef's Quiberon. The film is the story of Romy Schneider's death of 3 days in a rest house on the southern coast of France, about 1 year before his death. Marie Bäumer, who looked astonishingly as Romy , portrayed the wasp. I also wanted to remind a handful of lovers (if it is left).

Romy Schneider is one of the most beautiful, saddest women in the history of cinema. He was charming enough to compete with all the beauties of his time and even today. He got famous at the age of 15 and made films with Costa-Gavras, Otto Preminger, Orson Welles, Vittorio De Sica, Federico Fellini, Yves Montand, Richard Burton, Alain Delon He fell in love with Alain Delon, one of the most beautiful men in the world. Loved abandoned. The oldest of the sufferers experienced the pain of the child, and then the pain of his wife. It only lasted for 43 years. He pulled his own plug with the medicines he received overdose. When he was found dead in his bed naked, a small piece of the letter that his father sent him years ago came out of his hands, he writes in that little piece: squeeze his childhood into his pocket and run away. Because it is the only thing that is yours.

Finally, for those who wonder, let me name the book that describes the life of the actress. "Book Title: Romy Schneider - The Dual Life of the Actress Author: Bernard Pascuito Mustafa Kurtsen 10/10