"Hostess" is an East German (DEFA obviously) German-language film from 1976 that runs for 95 minutes and the director here is Rolf Römer and he is also one of four writers in charge of the screenplay here. This is certainly a bit unusual because while Römer was a really prolific actor in the GDR, he was not much of a filmmaker. This one here was his second and final (6 years after the first) work as the man in charge behind the camera if we only count movies. He also acts in it, bist just a minor character. And he also was not even born in the GDR. He has died approximately 20 years ago from the consequences of a freak accident, but his then wife Annekathrin Bürger is still alive today in her early 80s and she plays the title character in this film. I must still say it was not a good title selection because honestly the protagonist's profession has literally no impact on the story at all. It is easy to remember, but they could have come up with something better for sure. Anyway, this is a color film of course, but as the year is 1976, that should be clear, even if there are so many black-and-wgite film from the GDR. Now some German film buffs may know the name Bürger, but if you don't, then don't worry. She is not a big star or anything. Still, there are at least three other actors you may have come across. The (today) least known from the bunch is Fred Delmare, but even if he has only one scene, he has great recognition value as always. The second would be the young Michael Gwisdek (actually credited as Gwiesdek here) and he is still very prolific to this day and his style is also easy to recognize, even if this film is moving closer to its 50th anniversary. And number 3 is Jürgen Heinrich, who apparently looked a bit like Robert Pattinson when he was young. Shame on me for not recognizing him before reading that he plays the male character with the most screen time. It wa spretty obvious it's him when I knew. I even liked Wolffs Revier quite a bit, so I should have recognized him, especially because I kinda remember he is an East German actor.
Anyway, the one and only lead in this movie here is Bürger. She is in the vast majority of scenes. Early on, Heinrich is still always with her, but that changes quickly as the two are possibly about to break up when he makes the most unromantic marriage proposal one can imagine. Heinrch is also a lot younger than Bürger, but wasn't really too obvious because he looked older than he was in my opinion. So the central character Jette enjoys some time on her own, or actually "enjoys" is maybe not the right word because she also suffers a bit, but quickly she is really more busy with other stuff than her relationship struggles and that include relationships of other people. There are two other couples in this film that we find out quite a bit about. One is a couple that is slightly older than the two protagonists and they also are parents already and they are going through a rough spot that involves disagreements about the female working for example. We don't really find out in detail what is wrong with them, maybe they just got too used to each other and the magic is gone. We see one scene though, in which the man is in a really bad spot and the protagonist comforts him. I must still say the way how he and his wife interacted with each other was something I would never want in a relationship, no matter how long we would be together. I still liked the male actor there. I think he was a police officer or so as we find out near the end? He was interesting to watch. And the second couple of supporting players is a pretty young one and we find out thatg the woman there is sexually frustrated, but also not happy with how the husband does not really want more than the woman's body and no closeness or togetherness otherwise really and that hurts her a lot and also has as a result that the woman is acting in a not friendly was towards everybody at work, bei it customers, superiors or colleagues. This one is, in contrast to the other one, not solved at the end, or at least not in a way where the two get together again as we find out the man does not love his partner. He tells that to the female protagonist. So you see already she has a lot to do with other people's messed-up relationships and there is not that much time to think about hers.
Still towards the end, we see her go on a date with another guy, a former lover apparently from years ago, and they go to a concert the young Nina Hagen. Now she is one every German (especially East German) will immediately recognized. She may have gotten older, but her style and singing are still exactly the same. She was just 20 when this was made, really young. So much for the cast. Now a few words on the film itself and the story and some thing I liked and disliked. I personally thought this film was really GDR. In terms of costumes, haircuts and (mostg of all) shades towards the end, you could easily see where this was from. One of the highlights for me was Roswitha Marks, who was really really beautiful I thought. What a fool that he let her go and a pity that so little is known about the actress. The ending I did not like. It was a happy ending after the typical drama that all could be lost with the protaggonistg going out with the other man. But to me it felt rushed and unrealistic. I mean come on we saw Heinrich's character briefly before that with another woman, even if he is not particularly interested in that one obviously and we don't even see him return at the end. Then again, maybe I did not like her returning because I generally did not care too much for the two main characters. Heinrich's was exactly the kind of guy I could not be more different from and, well, she is more likable, but I did not really cheer for her either. Another thing I did not like at all was the music. The songs were not good in my opinion, especially the one that was played twice (once near the end) that felt really kitsch and for the sake of it. By the way, the songs were all German. This should not come as a surprise for a GDR movie, but apart from that there are aspects that do not feel GDR atg all. One would be the great deal of nudity on several occasions. I can see why this film was a bit of a scandal back then. Another would be the protagonist's profession and there are many sequences, in which we see foreigners, for example when the main character speaks English (yep! in a GDR film), e see another guy talk French and there are also Asian people around briefly. So they somewhat depicted the country as open-minded to people from other countries. How much trues lies in that, is up to you to decide. But it must be said that they definitely were not friendly towards those from their own country, who had different political views or even tried to flee. But let's not drift too far away from the film here. There is one thing I want to mention before I finish my review and this would be these brief scenes that take place in the mind of the main character and we see them, frequently with exaggerations, especially when she is with her man and they are dancing or so, something that would never happen in real life. I did not like these scenes, but I can see the idea behind them being pretty progressive and I respect that. The only moment that was slightly entertaining was the elephant scene maybe. Overall, there are too many flaws with this film for me for a positive recommendation, so I give it a thumbs-down. It's not a failure and also refreshingly different from GDR propaganda movies, but that does not make it a good watch unfortunately. I felt that they never really got me (representing the audience) involved with this one. Watch something else instead.
Anyway, the one and only lead in this movie here is Bürger. She is in the vast majority of scenes. Early on, Heinrich is still always with her, but that changes quickly as the two are possibly about to break up when he makes the most unromantic marriage proposal one can imagine. Heinrch is also a lot younger than Bürger, but wasn't really too obvious because he looked older than he was in my opinion. So the central character Jette enjoys some time on her own, or actually "enjoys" is maybe not the right word because she also suffers a bit, but quickly she is really more busy with other stuff than her relationship struggles and that include relationships of other people. There are two other couples in this film that we find out quite a bit about. One is a couple that is slightly older than the two protagonists and they also are parents already and they are going through a rough spot that involves disagreements about the female working for example. We don't really find out in detail what is wrong with them, maybe they just got too used to each other and the magic is gone. We see one scene though, in which the man is in a really bad spot and the protagonist comforts him. I must still say the way how he and his wife interacted with each other was something I would never want in a relationship, no matter how long we would be together. I still liked the male actor there. I think he was a police officer or so as we find out near the end? He was interesting to watch. And the second couple of supporting players is a pretty young one and we find out thatg the woman there is sexually frustrated, but also not happy with how the husband does not really want more than the woman's body and no closeness or togetherness otherwise really and that hurts her a lot and also has as a result that the woman is acting in a not friendly was towards everybody at work, bei it customers, superiors or colleagues. This one is, in contrast to the other one, not solved at the end, or at least not in a way where the two get together again as we find out the man does not love his partner. He tells that to the female protagonist. So you see already she has a lot to do with other people's messed-up relationships and there is not that much time to think about hers.
Still towards the end, we see her go on a date with another guy, a former lover apparently from years ago, and they go to a concert the young Nina Hagen. Now she is one every German (especially East German) will immediately recognized. She may have gotten older, but her style and singing are still exactly the same. She was just 20 when this was made, really young. So much for the cast. Now a few words on the film itself and the story and some thing I liked and disliked. I personally thought this film was really GDR. In terms of costumes, haircuts and (mostg of all) shades towards the end, you could easily see where this was from. One of the highlights for me was Roswitha Marks, who was really really beautiful I thought. What a fool that he let her go and a pity that so little is known about the actress. The ending I did not like. It was a happy ending after the typical drama that all could be lost with the protaggonistg going out with the other man. But to me it felt rushed and unrealistic. I mean come on we saw Heinrich's character briefly before that with another woman, even if he is not particularly interested in that one obviously and we don't even see him return at the end. Then again, maybe I did not like her returning because I generally did not care too much for the two main characters. Heinrich's was exactly the kind of guy I could not be more different from and, well, she is more likable, but I did not really cheer for her either. Another thing I did not like at all was the music. The songs were not good in my opinion, especially the one that was played twice (once near the end) that felt really kitsch and for the sake of it. By the way, the songs were all German. This should not come as a surprise for a GDR movie, but apart from that there are aspects that do not feel GDR atg all. One would be the great deal of nudity on several occasions. I can see why this film was a bit of a scandal back then. Another would be the protagonist's profession and there are many sequences, in which we see foreigners, for example when the main character speaks English (yep! in a GDR film), e see another guy talk French and there are also Asian people around briefly. So they somewhat depicted the country as open-minded to people from other countries. How much trues lies in that, is up to you to decide. But it must be said that they definitely were not friendly towards those from their own country, who had different political views or even tried to flee. But let's not drift too far away from the film here. There is one thing I want to mention before I finish my review and this would be these brief scenes that take place in the mind of the main character and we see them, frequently with exaggerations, especially when she is with her man and they are dancing or so, something that would never happen in real life. I did not like these scenes, but I can see the idea behind them being pretty progressive and I respect that. The only moment that was slightly entertaining was the elephant scene maybe. Overall, there are too many flaws with this film for me for a positive recommendation, so I give it a thumbs-down. It's not a failure and also refreshingly different from GDR propaganda movies, but that does not make it a good watch unfortunately. I felt that they never really got me (representing the audience) involved with this one. Watch something else instead.
