"Eltern" or "Parents" is the newest film by Robert Thalheim. He's done quality- and quantity-wise very solid work in the last five years and given the fact that he's still under 40 years old, I hope he can have an international breakthrough at some point soon. He's steadily improving I think as this one here is in my opinion his best work so far. It's about a married couple aged around 40 who have two daughters and the struggles they face as the father, a house husband for years while his wife pursued her career as a doctor, returns into his profession as a theater director.
I very much enjoyed all the performances and I'll elaborate on these a bit now.
The parents: Christiane Paul has been a notable name in German cinema for a really long time. So far, I can't say I was too impressed by most of her work, but here she's pretty good.
Charly Hübner has been the epitome of a reliable supporting actor (Lives of Others, most notably) for the last 10 years, somebody who's always good, but rarely gets the recognition. 2013 could be a real career year for him, however. He already received a Golden Camera this year for another project and he's simply magnificent in "Eltern" as well. It's still a long time till the next German Film award, but I truly hope he'll be taken into consideration then.
The children: Paraschiva Dragus, the younger sister of Maria-Victoria Dragus ("Das weiße Band") proves that talent runs in the family. She really nails her scenes and is downright fantastic in some of her more serious scenes, like the one where she talks to her dad with the door still half-closed.
Emilia Pieske does a very fine job in bringing comic relief. This movie is categorized as a comedy on IMDb and she is literally the only real reason for that. She's a little blonde sunshine and the epitome of a cute 5-year-old. Her material is not as serious as Dragus' and even if she mourns for her hamster Specky for quite a while doesn't have true emotional gravity. Still, she does a very fine job and is simply incredibly delightful when she's sitting on the toilet calling "poo" so her mom will come and clean her or in pretty much every other scene when she's on the screen. You just can't look away. We'll see in the next decades if she has real acting talent, but for now the charm she oozes is enough to keep me interested. Another favorite scene for me was the car scene very early in the film where everybody was singing a song about attacking the government with guns just as if it was really a children's song. It's difficult to describe, but as it was included in the trailer, I've probably seen that scene 20 times and it was a joy every single one of them with the face expressions, especially Pieske's.
Finally, there's a couple supporting players who do an okay job with their material as well: the pregnant au-pair from Argentina. This one almost comes in the position where she feels like another daughter of the family with the way she behaves towards Paul's and Dragus' characters mostly, especially when the party is coming up. Actually I was a bit surprised how long the family held onto her, especially when the smallest daughter almost falls out of the window, while the au-pair is in the bathtub chilling and reading instead of babysitting. Then there's also, with considerably less screen time, the female colleague of Hübner's character ( a bit tragic during her talk about the right moment) and especially the older anti-authority infant-terrible actor in the Nibelungen play.
It's a truly well-written piece of movie-making that won't have to hide behind the best written films from the USA this year. I applaud Thalheim and Ainscough for how they wrote all the characters' interactions and communications.
Let me emphasize 3 symbolisms in particular: 1. the old woman at the hospital: Just like the couple's marriage she's in a situation where her existence is at stake due to dangerous recent developments, but in the end everything seems to turn out well thanks to the investing of Paul's character.
2. the destruction scene at the theater: Hübner's character using his daughter's sword to destroy the whole scene to have a bit of a fresh start and show us where his real priorities are.
3. the scene with Hübner and Dragus at the door (mentioned earlier) Just like the new second Specky, Hübner is not needed or wanted in his current state and is not as essential and needed to everybody involved as he once was.
It's really difficult to find something I didn't like about the film and I have to dig deep to come up with the odd relationship of Paul's character to that other doctor. But that's really just because everything else was great and the scenes involving this were just okay so that I could have done without this subplot. However, this little flaw is made up for easily by the ending. I won't go into much detail, but they picked a great moment to close it and the moment the screen turned black, I just thought "yes well done, perfect moment". "Eltern" is easily not only one of the best German movies, but probably one of the best films I've seen all year with a tremendous lead performance by Charly Hübner showing us among other things what the perfect daddy looks like in several scenes early on, like when his youngest refuses to go to sleep and he has her toys convince her. Also for some reason, I can't really say why I believe this is a perfect movie for couples of for a first date. It's dramatic, but never too serious, it's genuinely funny and heart-warming too. I very much recommend it.
I very much enjoyed all the performances and I'll elaborate on these a bit now.
The parents: Christiane Paul has been a notable name in German cinema for a really long time. So far, I can't say I was too impressed by most of her work, but here she's pretty good.
Charly Hübner has been the epitome of a reliable supporting actor (Lives of Others, most notably) for the last 10 years, somebody who's always good, but rarely gets the recognition. 2013 could be a real career year for him, however. He already received a Golden Camera this year for another project and he's simply magnificent in "Eltern" as well. It's still a long time till the next German Film award, but I truly hope he'll be taken into consideration then.
The children: Paraschiva Dragus, the younger sister of Maria-Victoria Dragus ("Das weiße Band") proves that talent runs in the family. She really nails her scenes and is downright fantastic in some of her more serious scenes, like the one where she talks to her dad with the door still half-closed.
Emilia Pieske does a very fine job in bringing comic relief. This movie is categorized as a comedy on IMDb and she is literally the only real reason for that. She's a little blonde sunshine and the epitome of a cute 5-year-old. Her material is not as serious as Dragus' and even if she mourns for her hamster Specky for quite a while doesn't have true emotional gravity. Still, she does a very fine job and is simply incredibly delightful when she's sitting on the toilet calling "poo" so her mom will come and clean her or in pretty much every other scene when she's on the screen. You just can't look away. We'll see in the next decades if she has real acting talent, but for now the charm she oozes is enough to keep me interested. Another favorite scene for me was the car scene very early in the film where everybody was singing a song about attacking the government with guns just as if it was really a children's song. It's difficult to describe, but as it was included in the trailer, I've probably seen that scene 20 times and it was a joy every single one of them with the face expressions, especially Pieske's.
Finally, there's a couple supporting players who do an okay job with their material as well: the pregnant au-pair from Argentina. This one almost comes in the position where she feels like another daughter of the family with the way she behaves towards Paul's and Dragus' characters mostly, especially when the party is coming up. Actually I was a bit surprised how long the family held onto her, especially when the smallest daughter almost falls out of the window, while the au-pair is in the bathtub chilling and reading instead of babysitting. Then there's also, with considerably less screen time, the female colleague of Hübner's character ( a bit tragic during her talk about the right moment) and especially the older anti-authority infant-terrible actor in the Nibelungen play.
It's a truly well-written piece of movie-making that won't have to hide behind the best written films from the USA this year. I applaud Thalheim and Ainscough for how they wrote all the characters' interactions and communications.
Let me emphasize 3 symbolisms in particular: 1. the old woman at the hospital: Just like the couple's marriage she's in a situation where her existence is at stake due to dangerous recent developments, but in the end everything seems to turn out well thanks to the investing of Paul's character.
2. the destruction scene at the theater: Hübner's character using his daughter's sword to destroy the whole scene to have a bit of a fresh start and show us where his real priorities are.
3. the scene with Hübner and Dragus at the door (mentioned earlier) Just like the new second Specky, Hübner is not needed or wanted in his current state and is not as essential and needed to everybody involved as he once was.
It's really difficult to find something I didn't like about the film and I have to dig deep to come up with the odd relationship of Paul's character to that other doctor. But that's really just because everything else was great and the scenes involving this were just okay so that I could have done without this subplot. However, this little flaw is made up for easily by the ending. I won't go into much detail, but they picked a great moment to close it and the moment the screen turned black, I just thought "yes well done, perfect moment". "Eltern" is easily not only one of the best German movies, but probably one of the best films I've seen all year with a tremendous lead performance by Charly Hübner showing us among other things what the perfect daddy looks like in several scenes early on, like when his youngest refuses to go to sleep and he has her toys convince her. Also for some reason, I can't really say why I believe this is a perfect movie for couples of for a first date. It's dramatic, but never too serious, it's genuinely funny and heart-warming too. I very much recommend it.