"Liebe Mauer" (a pretty good title as it's about love and the Wall) or "Beloved Berlin Wall" is a German 100-minute movie from 2009, so this one has its 10th anniversary 2 years from now. It is one of his most recent efforts as these days he is not really as prolific anymore as he was in the 1990s especially. This one here is definitely among his most known works and of course this also has to do with the fact that GDR-themed movies always make a wave here in Germany. The key component here is definitely romance and this movie made clear to me that romance occasionally appears in these GDR-themed films, but that it is rarely at the very middle of it all, which is actually a bit surprising, so I'm glad the execution here was solid overall. If you have seen some other German films, you will most likely recognize names and faces here. Lead actress Felicitas Woll gives one of the better performances of her career in one of the better films of her career. Male co-lead Maxim Mehmet has a tougher challenge as there is some genuinely bad writing included here when it comes to his character. He is just too perfect, wants to study medicine, has a great Abitur, does not believe in the GDR's ideals despite his dad and education. Oh yeah and he listens to Bruce Springsteen of course. Some of it made it tough to cheer for the character and also for his love to Woll's character as a consequence. Thomas Thieme plays pretty much the same character as he did on the Oscar-winning Lives of Others and that is not a bad thing at all, even if I may be a bit biased as I am a bit of a Thieme fanboy. Supporting actress Anna Fischer was in it really only for comedy purposes and the character was a bit too gimmicky for my liking. But yeah I don't like the actress too much. All in all, Iliked the film though. It's not great or really defining from a historical perspective, but it tells a good story about (more than) two individuals and how the GDR as well as the ending of the GDR had a drastic impact on their lives. So yes, it is worth watching, especially if you love romance. And there's no denying Woll is really stunning in here and these cardboard scenes with messages written on them were kinda sweet. Enough now, it is a thumbs-up without a doubt.
4 Reviews
Some weaknesses in character writing, but overall a success
Horst_In_Translation8 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I liked it
cran_kiddo1 August 2011
This is not a masterpiece, maybe I won't remember it in two years, but I had a good time watching it on TV. This is not an historical piece, although you get an idea of the muddle that meant having Germany separated by a barrier.
I would say it's a chick flick set in the last days of the Berlin Wall.
The "bad" guys (those opposed to the love of the protagonist) are all unidimensional; and again, I didn't mind, because I understand this is not an historical movie (made me remember a bit of Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three": he didn't give a damn about being politically correct with capitalists nor the communists.)
The leads are good in their roles, making you root for them and their romance; the secondary characters are funny and contribute with comic relief moments.
I would watch it again. 7/10.
I would say it's a chick flick set in the last days of the Berlin Wall.
The "bad" guys (those opposed to the love of the protagonist) are all unidimensional; and again, I didn't mind, because I understand this is not an historical movie (made me remember a bit of Billy Wilder's "One, Two, Three": he didn't give a damn about being politically correct with capitalists nor the communists.)
The leads are good in their roles, making you root for them and their romance; the secondary characters are funny and contribute with comic relief moments.
I would watch it again. 7/10.
provided you know something about recent German history .....
wvisser-leusden25 November 2011
Warning: Spoilers
'Liebe Mauer' (= German for 'lovely wall') relates to the Berlin wall that once was. Around this theme the film's plot weaves a very nice & intelligent comedy, threatening to end in disaster if not saved by the wall's destruction in 1989.
However, if you are not familiar with recent German history, I suppose you won't be able to appreciate this film's story to its full depth. Even more, without this historical knowledge I guess you are just presented with an incoherent story about a love affair between a girl and a young soldier. That probably explains why this film hardly made any impact outside Germany.
For the rest: 'Liebe Mauer's story is carried by female lead Felicitas Woll, a German celebrity that got famous by her TV-series 'Berlin, Berlin' from around 2004. Apart from Woll, all acting & shooting are adequate without being brilliant.
However, if you are not familiar with recent German history, I suppose you won't be able to appreciate this film's story to its full depth. Even more, without this historical knowledge I guess you are just presented with an incoherent story about a love affair between a girl and a young soldier. That probably explains why this film hardly made any impact outside Germany.
For the rest: 'Liebe Mauer's story is carried by female lead Felicitas Woll, a German celebrity that got famous by her TV-series 'Berlin, Berlin' from around 2004. Apart from Woll, all acting & shooting are adequate without being brilliant.
Naive nuisance
richard_sleboe25 November 2009
I haven't posted anything in a while, but this is too much of a nuisance to let it slip. Made with tax money scraped from half a dozen public institutions, soon to be force-fed to the fee-ridden audience of national public television, and no doubt eventually to be screened in schools, this soap opera, about the last days of East Berlin, is a complete waste of time and money. The GDR is portrayed as a quirky theme park run by clueless communist goons. Each and every character is given up to ridicule. "Beloved Berlin Wall" fails both as a period piece and as a love story. Small surprise the writer-director's previous experience is in toddler fodder like "My Brother is a Dog" or "Rudy, the Racing Pig". The leggy lead was the only thing that kept me from walking out. To make things worse, the theatrical cut is at least half an hour too long. While that's easy to fix, the movie itself is beyond salvation. When the closing credits finally roll, it's as big a relief as the Iron Curtain coming down.
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