"Die Lebenslüge" is a German television film from 2009, so this one here is over a decade old now. It runs for slightly under 1.5 hours like most German small screen releases and the director here is Peter Sämann. I mean his body of work is really nothing to be proud of, but by no means it is as bad as writer Antje Bähr's body of work: Lena Lorenz, Rosamunde Pilcher, Utta Danella, Lily Schönauer, Der Bergdoktor, In aller Freundschaft, Rote Rosen, Sturm der Liebe, Das Traumschiff. Unreal stuff. This woman has apparently worked on everything that is wrong with German television over the last five years. I have never seen something like that before. A filmography that oozes lack of talent, creativity and wit. So of course, this film here that is also known as "Das zweite Leben" is a massive failure as well. It's not just Bähr's inclusion that makes it obvious. It is also a Regina Ziegler production starring Christine Neubauer. Everybody who knos something about German television knows what that means. This movie is an abomination. As for Neubauer, by now in her late 50s she is not really getting cast anymore for leadroles at least, but she was for 20 years or so and that is really a certificate of failure for German television. She has nothing but recognition value. I have seen rocks with more range, versatility and talent when it comes to acting and I am not talking about Dwayne Johnson, although he has as well. Anyway, she also always plays pretty much the same characters really. The "good" thing is that occasionally when she is really missing the mark once again when the material is a bit more challenging and involves the inclusion of authentic emotion it is downright funny how bad she is going full ham with the most sterile line delivery. Just one example: On one occasion, the male lead says something like he lost three years of his life to another woman and she responds something like "she lost his faith in love" or so. It was almost a voice-over with the camera moving away and I laughed a lot during that moment. There were three or four other moments when I laughed at Neubauer's horribly cringeworthy line delivery. I mean it's not all her. The script is such a mess of course, but it must be said that it is quite a unique achievement to be so bad that you actually make things even worse. Things in this case are the lines she was given. Okay, I already mentioned the camera work. Not much to say there. Nothing special. But as always with Neubauer films, they make sure to constantly show us her curves with the camera repeatedly moving up her body. Unreal stuff. This is the moment during which really the last woman watching this film should understand that it has nothing to do with empowering women. Or at least when we have Neubauer's character showing us her massive cleavage throughout the entire movie. I already mentioned the male protagonist briefly. He is played by Bernhard Bettermann and I find it pretty sad to see him star in films like this one because back in the day, he actually played in several really good German films, even the lead in one of them about a guy coming home from war, and already back then he had to appear in garbage films like this one and I see he also is a regular on "In aller Freundschaft" these days. Pity. His talent is wasted. he should play theater instead if he is not getting any good film roles. Sucks to see him in here, especially during that one scene when he looked with a lustful face expression at Neubauer's character during their (obviously not) final evening together.
As for this movie here, it is the story of a woman finding out that her late husband had an extramarital relationship of several years with a flight attentdant, who died with him in a car crash. As the latter also wasn't single, widow and widower join forces and try to find out what exactly was going on between these two. I mean the cringe was there right from the start when we hear that there was a woman with the man in the car wreck and of course she was not just a hotel employee. But they had to include this affair obviously to justify Neubauer's character getting busy with a new man so quickly after the death of her husband. Pathetic stuff. And her playing hard to get on several occasions or the scene with the waiters watching them did not make things any better. The cringe is always there with Neubauer. The side story, at the end almost the core story, is about Neubauer's daughter and how she misses her dad and is not too happy that her mother has a new man at the very end. How can they give gravoty to that? Oh right, let's just include a terrible accident and show us how the daughter is fighting for her life at the hospital. But only briefly. Two minutes later we find out the girl woke up and there will be no permanent damage to her health. Another three minutes later, the girl walks around as if nothing happened again and has fully recovered. I mean how stupid do they think audiences are? It is really an insult. Given the film's title, the only lie here is the movie itself. And don't even get me started on the more comedic moments, like when they are pretty drunk at the bar and Neubauer's character falls down from her chair. Oh look how clumsy charming she is! I can only shake my head at that. Of course, at the same time she is an independent woman working as a crafted artist and she is oh so creative in her life. I mean there were so many scenes and moments in this movie that sucked so hard and did not make any sense at all that I just cannot mention them all. But this film is definitely a dark spot in everybody's filmpgraphy and they should be embarrassed they were a part of it. Also it's been a while since I saw a mother-daughter story in a movie that felt so bland and uninteresting. If the mother (i.e. grandmother I mean with Neubauer's character being the daughter) had been left out entirely, then nothing would have been different for this movie. Although I guess maybe I should be glad, they did not even try to get in a great story or importnat plot there too because it would just have been another area for them to mess things up completely. The way they actually went for may be as uninteresting as it gets too, but at least it wasn't impossible to believe. Okay, you get the message. This is a movie you want to skip at any cost. Disgraceful Germans are forced to pay television stations for this kind of garbage movies. A huge scandal in fact! The eternal Neubauer. The eternal Ziegler. The eternal Bähr. The eternal failure.
As for this movie here, it is the story of a woman finding out that her late husband had an extramarital relationship of several years with a flight attentdant, who died with him in a car crash. As the latter also wasn't single, widow and widower join forces and try to find out what exactly was going on between these two. I mean the cringe was there right from the start when we hear that there was a woman with the man in the car wreck and of course she was not just a hotel employee. But they had to include this affair obviously to justify Neubauer's character getting busy with a new man so quickly after the death of her husband. Pathetic stuff. And her playing hard to get on several occasions or the scene with the waiters watching them did not make things any better. The cringe is always there with Neubauer. The side story, at the end almost the core story, is about Neubauer's daughter and how she misses her dad and is not too happy that her mother has a new man at the very end. How can they give gravoty to that? Oh right, let's just include a terrible accident and show us how the daughter is fighting for her life at the hospital. But only briefly. Two minutes later we find out the girl woke up and there will be no permanent damage to her health. Another three minutes later, the girl walks around as if nothing happened again and has fully recovered. I mean how stupid do they think audiences are? It is really an insult. Given the film's title, the only lie here is the movie itself. And don't even get me started on the more comedic moments, like when they are pretty drunk at the bar and Neubauer's character falls down from her chair. Oh look how clumsy charming she is! I can only shake my head at that. Of course, at the same time she is an independent woman working as a crafted artist and she is oh so creative in her life. I mean there were so many scenes and moments in this movie that sucked so hard and did not make any sense at all that I just cannot mention them all. But this film is definitely a dark spot in everybody's filmpgraphy and they should be embarrassed they were a part of it. Also it's been a while since I saw a mother-daughter story in a movie that felt so bland and uninteresting. If the mother (i.e. grandmother I mean with Neubauer's character being the daughter) had been left out entirely, then nothing would have been different for this movie. Although I guess maybe I should be glad, they did not even try to get in a great story or importnat plot there too because it would just have been another area for them to mess things up completely. The way they actually went for may be as uninteresting as it gets too, but at least it wasn't impossible to believe. Okay, you get the message. This is a movie you want to skip at any cost. Disgraceful Germans are forced to pay television stations for this kind of garbage movies. A huge scandal in fact! The eternal Neubauer. The eternal Ziegler. The eternal Bähr. The eternal failure.
