User Reviews

This is a film I picked up in the library. I hadn't heard about it at all, so I was wondering whether it was intended for TV or for the big screen. So, anyway, what got me watching this flick is mainly the cast: Mario Adorf, Günther Lamprecht and Bruno Ganz are, in my view, some of the finest actors Germany has (and Germany doesn't have a lot of them). The plot is something which rang a bell to me, I am quite sure that the main idea of this film borders on plagiarism: a former KZ-inmate is convinced of having discovered one of his torturers in a church posing as a man of God (Lamprecht). It reminded me of Dürrenmatt. Although the plot is definitely not something unheard of or never done before, I thought that the acting was good. The flashbacks to the youth of the three protagonists was somewhat too corny, but the confrontation scene in the church was well done and not a little melodramatic. This scene was worth watching, because Adorf, Lamprecht and Ganz display this kind of down to earth acting that far from the overly dramatic way of acting in Hollywood when it comes to the Holocaust. So, although this isn't the best movie I've ever seen on the Shoah, it's definitely not the worst, and that's why I give it 6 points.

"Epsteins Nacht" or "Epstein's Night" is a German full feature film from 2002, so this one is already over 15 years old and it was directed by Urs Egger, already a really experienced and longtime filmmaker back then. The script is by Jens Urban who only launched his career during that time, but has been making films until now. But don't worry if you don't know these two. However, you should worry if you have never come across lead actors Mario Adorf and Bruno Ganz so far. And Adorf is the one most in the center here. Thne couple is joined by Otto Tausig, also quite experienced, but not as known as the other two. May he still rest in peace. Same for Annie Girardot, who plays the most crucial female character, even if she does not have a whole lot of screen time. Second female character is played by Nina Hoss when she was still pretty young here and I was surprised to see her in this film. Same is true about Elyas M'Barek and he looked pretty different compared to today and also it seems he made some casting decisions back then to appear in actually good films, even if his screen time is really just minimal as he appears only in flashbacks playing Adorf's character dutring his younger years. At 80 minutes, it is really not a long film at all, but instead a very essential movie on more than just a few occasions. The scenes that stay most in the mind are the ones inside the church of course, especially the first one. The ways in which Ganz and Adorf react to recognizing their tormentor could hardly be any more different and both act these scenes so well. Also applies to Günter Lambrecht of course, who is most known for his collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder like Berlin Alexanderplatz, which is considered an all-time greatg mini series by many. So yeah seeing these acting heavyweights Tausig, Adorf, Ganz and Lambrecht together is just mouth-watering. The quartet's most dramatic scene near the end, a really really long one, when it is all about unmasking the offender. But did he really do it? Is he really who they think he is? I will not give away the definite answer, but I kept getting doubts too. The audience is basically on par with Tausig's character in terms of who we thing he is (or is not). It is another quality movie about the years of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust and as such a subject that has been picked up so many times in (German) movies over the last decades. And the way it was done here is better than many other approaches and worse than only a few approaches I guess. You really need to fail big-style with story and script to destroy a film if you have a cast like that at your disposal. Ganz' permanent grieving about the love of his life was heartbreaking, even if the Hannah story line, also with the final revelation, did not convince me entirely. I must also say Lambrecht's explanations inside the church when he basically manages to play the trio, have them offend each other almost, did not work too well, not because of Lambrecht, he did all he could, but yeah there the story is not entirely satisfying and maybe the film tried to be too much and make too much of an impact. But almost everything else is pretty good. I would say overall the movie is better in the first 40 minutes than the second 40 minutes, but the loss in quality is not too serious. It still stays a convincing watch and I recommend checking it out. Also interesting to see Ganz in what you could consider a long in-between era of his career long after working with the legendary German filmmakers of the 70s and 80s and before his career-defining performance in Downfall. Yeah, go see Epstein's Nacht. I give it a thumbs-up.