"Das Geheimnis meiner Mutter", which means "My Mother's Secret", is a German television film from 2002, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary and for some strange reason it is still shown nowadays on national television. Of course it runs for the usual 1.5 hours, slightly under and the director is Bettina Woernle. She made a short filmm in the very early 1970s and nothing else before getting busy in the 1980s, but this still means that her career spans over almost 50 years now. Massive. At the same time, it is sad nonetheless to see how long she has been working and still there seems to be no talent to her craft.. She directed a handful of films in the 2000s and also before that, but in the last decade she mostly switched exclusively to directing series. She is still not yet retired in her early 70s. The screenplay is by two people, who apparently did not see each other's mistakes. Michael Arnal was the one mostly in charge. He started writing in the mid-1980s, but had long breaks on several occasions according to imdb, so his career is not too packed and he seems retired now too, has not made anything since 2010. Probably a good think looking at the quality of the screenplay here. or the lack of quality I should say. Arnal's co-writer is Paul Neumann. The German Paul Newman? Not quite. He has never worked on another project before or after this one. Again, according to imdb. Probably again also a good thing. The cast includes a handful names that are still known today. Lead actress is Chiara Schoras. I always thought her to be attractive, but her character here is so unlikable that it does not matter whatsoever. Also I think she is not a particularly good actress. Probably not as bad as the likes of Neubauer or Thomalla who appeared as lead in similar movies on many occasions over the years, but not good either. Here she was still in her 20s. The poster on imdb is a bit misleading because she is the one on the right where you only see half of the face unless you maximize it. The one on the left is Cielia Sarto. No clue why she is featured so prominently. Yes, she plays the protagonist's best friend, but her screen time is limited. And her performance is not too good either. If there is anything positive to say about her, it is again the looks. The two love interest to the main character are played by Davor and Grunert, two actors I really cannot say anything about at all. But the smaller parts feature fammiliar faces. "In aller Freundschaft" actors Bellmann and Delmare, bot deceased now, play antagonists, well Delmare not really an antagonist, just a man being a bit too precise when doing his job and getting in the way of the main character's dream(s), so up to you to decide if he is an antagonist. He only has one scene anyway. Bellmann is also more of an aide to the main antagonist. The one I finally want to mention is the really young Anna Brüggemann at the beginning of her career with a pretty unexpected haircut. Now in 2020 she is also a talented writer. Good to see what she became and that she is no loner associated with crappy films like this one we have here.
As for the story, let me mention a few examples why I thought this sucked. First of all, the predictable love story with the considerably older architect is cringeworthy to say the least. Really bad overall, especially how he constantly shows up out of nowhere to be near Schoras' character. It even felt a bit creepy to me. Of course, at the same time, we shall not forget how independent she is. e see that during her first meeting or when there is a pretty stressful situation and she does not really have much time to deal with him. But in order to see him still as worthy, we find out what a great guy he is through his amazing dog and also through the fact that the dog follows his orders very well and one whistle is enough for him to get out of the way and run to him. There is more cringeworthy stuff to the scenes he is in. I will not mention it all, but the verbal cock fight sequence between him and the other suitor was truly embarrassing and Schoras also gave us a pretty memorable display of weak line delivery when she makes clear she is the boss and decides who she wants nearby. By the way, of course, early on she is also discriminated against by her previous boss and a colleague that apparently she was romantically involved with. What pigs! The guy only got the job over her because he is a man. Sin! Sin! Sin! Sigh. So she storms out (her saying she quits the job was another pretty bad example of acting, very over the top) and proves to everybody that she does not need them. Okay. Of course she does. The most cringeworthy moment was probably when Grunert's character somewhat confesses her his love and affection by making statements about the two together and how well they function this way. The earlier moment about how he says he kinda felt she would return was already pretty bad despite how brief it was. You may easily overhear it if you don't play 100% attention. Then again not paying 100% attention may be a good approach for this film. However, what I actually wanted to say is that when Grunert's character goes all in with the romantic confession (or creepy confession), it is so cringeworthy that it is impossible to take and aaaah I could not deal with it. I would not even blame the actor there. The dialogue writing was simply abysmal. On many other occasions too. Like how it is implied that after being rejected by Schoras' character, Grunert's character simply moved on and maybe started something with her best friend. Oh boy. Or girl. Actually, I applaud every woman who sees through this charade and does not see this film as a statement on powerful women standing up for themselves. Finally, one more really brief, but also really weak moment: It involves the best friend again. On one occasion, she makes a sexist statement about the men pushing the car. That entire scene was a mess. Besides, the bathtub phone conversation was also not exactly something to be proud of for a director, writer or actor. No matter where you look here, you will always find failure. massive thumbs-down and after all these years, it really should not be on about anymore. Oh yeah, I did not even mention the title. The secret is that the protagonist finds out her real father is not the one she thought he was. And (how convenient!), she inherits a hotel from him. Very realistic. Enough coincidence for 4.5 hours and yet with this creating the background, they stuff more and more lack of authenticity into our faces constantly. And why did the biological father not even try to contact her after her parents had died? So many questions. Almost nothing makes sense. Admittedly there is worse stuff out there being shown here in my country in the afternoon, but this does not mean at all that this film here is good from any perspective. Not even weak. Plain bad is the accurate description. Highly not recommended.
As for the story, let me mention a few examples why I thought this sucked. First of all, the predictable love story with the considerably older architect is cringeworthy to say the least. Really bad overall, especially how he constantly shows up out of nowhere to be near Schoras' character. It even felt a bit creepy to me. Of course, at the same time, we shall not forget how independent she is. e see that during her first meeting or when there is a pretty stressful situation and she does not really have much time to deal with him. But in order to see him still as worthy, we find out what a great guy he is through his amazing dog and also through the fact that the dog follows his orders very well and one whistle is enough for him to get out of the way and run to him. There is more cringeworthy stuff to the scenes he is in. I will not mention it all, but the verbal cock fight sequence between him and the other suitor was truly embarrassing and Schoras also gave us a pretty memorable display of weak line delivery when she makes clear she is the boss and decides who she wants nearby. By the way, of course, early on she is also discriminated against by her previous boss and a colleague that apparently she was romantically involved with. What pigs! The guy only got the job over her because he is a man. Sin! Sin! Sin! Sigh. So she storms out (her saying she quits the job was another pretty bad example of acting, very over the top) and proves to everybody that she does not need them. Okay. Of course she does. The most cringeworthy moment was probably when Grunert's character somewhat confesses her his love and affection by making statements about the two together and how well they function this way. The earlier moment about how he says he kinda felt she would return was already pretty bad despite how brief it was. You may easily overhear it if you don't play 100% attention. Then again not paying 100% attention may be a good approach for this film. However, what I actually wanted to say is that when Grunert's character goes all in with the romantic confession (or creepy confession), it is so cringeworthy that it is impossible to take and aaaah I could not deal with it. I would not even blame the actor there. The dialogue writing was simply abysmal. On many other occasions too. Like how it is implied that after being rejected by Schoras' character, Grunert's character simply moved on and maybe started something with her best friend. Oh boy. Or girl. Actually, I applaud every woman who sees through this charade and does not see this film as a statement on powerful women standing up for themselves. Finally, one more really brief, but also really weak moment: It involves the best friend again. On one occasion, she makes a sexist statement about the men pushing the car. That entire scene was a mess. Besides, the bathtub phone conversation was also not exactly something to be proud of for a director, writer or actor. No matter where you look here, you will always find failure. massive thumbs-down and after all these years, it really should not be on about anymore. Oh yeah, I did not even mention the title. The secret is that the protagonist finds out her real father is not the one she thought he was. And (how convenient!), she inherits a hotel from him. Very realistic. Enough coincidence for 4.5 hours and yet with this creating the background, they stuff more and more lack of authenticity into our faces constantly. And why did the biological father not even try to contact her after her parents had died? So many questions. Almost nothing makes sense. Admittedly there is worse stuff out there being shown here in my country in the afternoon, but this does not mean at all that this film here is good from any perspective. Not even weak. Plain bad is the accurate description. Highly not recommended.
