"Das Fremde in mir" or "The Stranger in Me" is a German 95-minute film from 2008, so this one will have its 10th anniversary in 2 years. It is probably the most known work from Berlin-born writer and director Emily Atef and it got her and lead actress Susanne Wolff a great deal of awards recognition. Wolff is the heart and soul of the film as her state of mind is all that matters from start to finish. She plays a pregnant woman early on, then the child is born and Wolff's character struggles with severe post-natal depression, which results in her being unable to make a connection to her new-born and really just being annoyed of the child's presence most of the time.
Her husband is played by Johann von Bülow, possibly the most known cast member (together with Kroymann), and he gives a convincing performance too in my opinion. He works well together with Wolff and carries at least 50% of the film in terms of the plot that deals with the relationship between the two main characters that also suffers a lot under the woman's struggling. This is not about depicting very likable or perfect characters, it is all about the authenticity and Atef as well as her two lead actors do a pretty good job with that. Everybody has flaws, everybody makes mistakes and we get to watch these and the consequences that follow-up because of these flaws and mistakes.
As a whole, I enjoyed the watch here. It was a fairly bleak, sometimes also depressing film, but the overall atmosphere worked well in terms of the difficult topic this movie is about. And it is a subject that you don't see really that often in films these days, maybe because it's so dark and maybe even a bit of a taboo. I liked the watch, but I still felt there were specific moments or also the overall outcome where this one could have been still better, more touching perhaps. But it's absolutely not a failure or a bad film. Most of the aspects touched in this slightly over 1.5 hours work very well and that's why I recommend the watch. Go see it.
Her husband is played by Johann von Bülow, possibly the most known cast member (together with Kroymann), and he gives a convincing performance too in my opinion. He works well together with Wolff and carries at least 50% of the film in terms of the plot that deals with the relationship between the two main characters that also suffers a lot under the woman's struggling. This is not about depicting very likable or perfect characters, it is all about the authenticity and Atef as well as her two lead actors do a pretty good job with that. Everybody has flaws, everybody makes mistakes and we get to watch these and the consequences that follow-up because of these flaws and mistakes.
As a whole, I enjoyed the watch here. It was a fairly bleak, sometimes also depressing film, but the overall atmosphere worked well in terms of the difficult topic this movie is about. And it is a subject that you don't see really that often in films these days, maybe because it's so dark and maybe even a bit of a taboo. I liked the watch, but I still felt there were specific moments or also the overall outcome where this one could have been still better, more touching perhaps. But it's absolutely not a failure or a bad film. Most of the aspects touched in this slightly over 1.5 hours work very well and that's why I recommend the watch. Go see it.
