"Ein Teil von mir" is Christoph Röhl's first feature film after short film and television series work. He also co-wrote the script. The two main characters are played by Ludwig Trepte and Karoline Teska, two of Germany's most promising actors at that point seven years ago and maybe still today to a lesser degree. Teska reunites with Jennifer Ulrich. The two also co-starred in "Die Welle" which came out the very same year like this movie. Another interesting cast addition is Lena Stolze, lead actress in the Oscar nominee "The Nasty Girl" from 1990.
One crucial part of the film is the music. Sometimes it works very well, sometimes it really hurts the film, for example also unfortunately in the very last scene, which was an actually nice ending shot and quote. A young woman gets a child from a one-night-stand and visits the father as she tries to make him a factor in his baby girl's life. Apart from that, we also find out about the protagonists' relationships with their parents. Both only have their mothers, which is an interesting reference to the newborn's possible fate. Even if the movie runs for not even 90 minutes I felt that it dragged occasionally. When he got already very close to her again at the 60-minute mark, it feels like they did not really know what to show for the rest of the film. The scene where she gets so angry because it was his mother who pampered the girl and not himself felt ridiculous, especially as she simply went out clubbing and told him moments before that he will take care of the baby now. Another scene would be when the man's mother finds out that her son is the father. The quotes of her and the the other woman are an example of uninspired writing or line delivery unfortunately. Not sure which of both. The history school presentation did not add anything for me either. I don't know if they intended to make a parallel between him acting the right/wrong way and all the books on Hitler/Gandhi and others, but it certainly had no effect on me. And finally I was underwhelmed by Trepte's performance. Another actor may have brought more emotion and credibility to the role.
All in all, the second half of the film is way weaker than the first and also the main reason why I con't give this one a thumbs-up.
One crucial part of the film is the music. Sometimes it works very well, sometimes it really hurts the film, for example also unfortunately in the very last scene, which was an actually nice ending shot and quote. A young woman gets a child from a one-night-stand and visits the father as she tries to make him a factor in his baby girl's life. Apart from that, we also find out about the protagonists' relationships with their parents. Both only have their mothers, which is an interesting reference to the newborn's possible fate. Even if the movie runs for not even 90 minutes I felt that it dragged occasionally. When he got already very close to her again at the 60-minute mark, it feels like they did not really know what to show for the rest of the film. The scene where she gets so angry because it was his mother who pampered the girl and not himself felt ridiculous, especially as she simply went out clubbing and told him moments before that he will take care of the baby now. Another scene would be when the man's mother finds out that her son is the father. The quotes of her and the the other woman are an example of uninspired writing or line delivery unfortunately. Not sure which of both. The history school presentation did not add anything for me either. I don't know if they intended to make a parallel between him acting the right/wrong way and all the books on Hitler/Gandhi and others, but it certainly had no effect on me. And finally I was underwhelmed by Trepte's performance. Another actor may have brought more emotion and credibility to the role.
All in all, the second half of the film is way weaker than the first and also the main reason why I con't give this one a thumbs-up.
