User Reviews

The 80-minute "Härtetest" or "Auch ohne Frau unglücklich" or "The Hardship Test" or "Trial by Fire" is a German movie from 1998, which means it will have its 20th anniversary next year. The writer and director here is Janek Rieke and he also plays the main character. Apparently working behind the camera didn't do too much for him as he never returned to it and just kept working as an actor in the two decades since then. This is a bit of a pity as the movie shows decent premise overall and has some situations and scenes in particular where it is an interesting watch. However, if you read here on IMDb that this is a romantic comedy looking at the genres, then this could not be any further from the truth. There is a great deal of violence in here and many serious subjects like (attempted) rape, eco-terrorism and gunshot wounds. So this is not a light film at all. And this is a good thing for the most part. But sadly, then there are also moments when it all goes wrong, such as the final "thrilling" showdown with the female protagonist being unconscious and how the male (while completely untrained at fighting) needs to save her. This is also a final reference to the subject of him supposed to show he has guts so she accepts him and honestly this ending scene feels so unrealistic and fake for the sake of it. Also while I am certainly not on any extreme side of the political scale (right or left), it felt occasionally too much of a left-wing film for me the way how Nazis are depicted as brain-dead idiots who shoot their own people by accident. So there were several details in this film that left a negative note on an otherwise solid mix of romance and drama in here. Disappointing as this film could have been better easily with more and more talented attention to detail. However, the way it turned out it is nothing I can give a thumbs-up or recommend. Also the awards attention seems to be a bit over the top.

This is one of the movies which are bad but still have some sparkles.

I guess the authors had a gag (spoiler) - a company hides to make a surprise at a girl's birthday and sees this girl f***ed by a stranger. Then her boyfriend who saw the scene with his own eyes forgives her at once. (end of spoiler). What kind of a man is he after this? The answer is clear but the authors still have an hour and they have to fill it with something.

Then, no matter what they tried, they could not but use a cliche. Dumb football fans, overcaring mother - the only reason for her son failures, mutual attraction of poor and rich and many others and the pearl - young radical-feminist-green-communist who's intimate thought is to become a loving wife of a clerk. If the movie had lasted for a quarter of an hour more, she would remember the principles of three K, I guess.

Well, the sparkles are: the above-mentioned gag, Rudi Voller as an angel and marvellous smile of Lisa Martinek.

The acting is rather good and fits comedy well, but the plot spoils most of the crew's efforts.

I warn you, this is a SPOILER!

The movie is not just bad. I manages to create this special feeling in your belly, this feeling of..."oops, where is the next restroom", this feeling of utmost disgust. The characters are unbearable, so artificial, so "pulled on the hair", as the Germans say. I was in there with a group of 6 people, we all left after 60 minutes. The most terribly wasted hour of my life!