"Fliegen lernen", which of course means "Learning to Fly", is a German television film from 2012, so really not too long anymore until this one has its tenth anniversary. This is once again ARD Degeto, which means you should expect the worst really and also that it runs for minimally under 1.5 hours as they always do with Degeto in charge. This company is really the abyss of terrible small screen releases. Hundreds, maybe thousands soon even. The director was Christoph Schrewe, not yet in his 50s back then, and his body of work is as impressive as it gets if you take a look at all the American series, some of them among the very best out there, that he has worked on in recent years. What a transition. An Emmy nomination in the coming years certainly seems a possibility. So maybe his rise can give hope to other filmmakers that, even if they worked on terrible projects like this one here, there is still the theoretical possibility that they soon could be working with the likes of Oscar winners Rami Malek, Jennifer Connelly and other big names such as Kevin Bacon. Unreal. Then again, this is more of a once-in-a-thousand-cases scenario I assume, especially because Schrewe wasn't even particularly young back when this was made in 2012. And he started in the late 1980s already And I mean if early in your career you are stuck with "OP ruft Dr. Bruckner - Die besten Ärzte Deutschlands" and Crazy Race sequels, then there's only one way: Up. But not this far up for most. Schrewe is not a writer, so they got Bortoli and Zinke here, who have worked together on almost every project they were a part of, but if you take a look at the really weak television films they made, then this is as telling as "Sturm der Liebe" being the most recent project as it is the case for one of them. This film here, with these people in charge, was only headed one direction and that would be failure territory.
In terms of the cast, we have a few familiar faces here that have enjoyed very long careers. Successful I am not sure. The woman you see on the right on the photo here on imdb is Gesine Cukrowski. Visually alright, but just like almost everybody else from the cast here, she is not a revelation in terms of range and versatility and that is already a pretty nice way to put it. Yes, she was that bad. Some line deliveries were almost unwatchable. One example would be when she stands up verbally against her son smoking marijuana, but I will get to the story later. The two males here are Dinda and Ohrt. The former seemed really as bland and lackluster as it gets, which made it difficult to only cheer for him one bit. And Ohrt well he always manages to deliver some kind of energy with his performances, but most of the time this also cannot hide that he is not the most talented actor out there. Again, a pretty gentle way to put. I still think he was among the better aspects of this film and this means something because his character was written as cringeworthy as it gets as well. I will get to that later. Elderly actors like Janson and Hagen are in here too. Both were closing in on 80 back then and now they are deep into their 80s, but still alive. Their screen time was really limited though, especially Janson's. Blink and he was gone as he had two or three brief scenes only. Hagen (yep, Nina's mother and Cosma Shiva's grandmother) had more screen time, but also never really made an impact and how her character changed her opinion from not giving the business to the female protagonist to giving it to her and even hugging her like a friend eventually felt very unrealistic to be honest. That's all for the cast. Lissa Schwerm is a bit of a stunner, so makes it really almost impossible to understand the male protagonist's decision near the end.
I am not sure what would have been worse here, the title they went with with its connection to flying because it's the male protagonist's hobby or "Liebe mit Nebenwirkungen", the working title that means "Love with side effects" and the only reason for that one would be that the male protagonist is a doctor. Or about to become one. As you can see, the key issue here is basically a woman entering into a romantic relationship with a considerably younger man. It was pretty hilarious how they early on showed us that her ex-man also has a much younger girlfriend now apparently and we are supposed to see this/him as despicable, especially when it is implied that the guy (Ohrt) even cheated on Cukrowski's character with the younger woman before the film started. And when Cukrowski's character starts something with Dinda's character, we see her doubts and struggles and hear her words that she never did something like that before. Okay. There we are supposed to cheer for her and the two. I know I didn't. Also the ways in which this female athlete at the hospital is attracted to Dinda's character with how she talks to him, about the wound for example, felt really uninspired and for the sake of it. Oh yes, the wound of course comes from a fight between Dinda's character and Ohrt's. That was as cringeworthy as it gets really, the inclusion of this escalation. There is so much wrong with this movie. There you can also include the ending. As always, we get the drama there and that everything is in danger of falling apart and the two are separated, but then the new girl realizes that he still loves the other woman and leaves. And he returns to Cukrowski's character (said other woman) immediately. I have no words for that.
Before that, they also included a little rushed-in pregnancy and miscarriage plot in under ten minutes. Sure thing. Stuff that, with proper elaboration, could be a foundation good enough for a miniseries or something is treated here like a side effect (no pun intended). And of course, the younger man here does not only have to accept falling completely for an older woman, but also bury his wish to become a father for her. I mean love prevails, doesn't it? I don't even. Ridiculous really. I mean her son was 100% right. What's up with birth control? They were just letting loose I assume and their tension and passion was so considerable that the result was a love child. Or would have been. Was a love pregnancy. Okay, it was not just this story during which the film was unwatchable. Also everything related to the pharmacy and the older woman being about to retire there was a joke. Be it the ways in which Cukrowski's character receives all this praise and applause constantly because she is such a hard, yet likable worker, be it her son all of a sudden working there and being playfully mocked by his mother and a colleague or be it of course the decision that of course Cukrowski's character will take over the business. Oh and by the way, speaking of the elderly woman (Hagen), she also collapsed on one occasion because it was all getting too much for her apparently. But she was alright quickly afterwards. More pseudo drama. Characters tend to collapse a lot in these films. Also applies to Cukrowski's character herself during her pregnancy. Looking at how in almost every Degeto film with a pregnant character, that character collapses on one occasion at least, you could genuinely think unconsciousness was a common symptome for pregnancies.
Okay, I'm positive you know what I am thinking about this film by now. There is not much more to add honestly. Even if I could easily find (half) a dozen more scenes and inclusions during which this film felt really somewhat wrong in my opinion. Oh yes, the fire/smoke sequence and how he basically saves her early on. So much drama here. An amount of drama that maybe happens to you in reality over the course of five, probably ten years, but here it is just a few weeks or something. Highly unrealistic and unauthentic. Oh and as a Stromberg fan I have to mention Erika or the actress in fact. I think Either-Acheampong is the name (don't wanna check now). She was in this film too, but only for a really brief moment as she turns into a bit of a rival to the female protagonist, but this plot inclusion is done away with immediately after too. No clue what was up with that. I guess it was again supposed to show us how likable Cukrowski's character is and that she never has hard feelings for anybody. It is very obvious this is a film for women. The best example is Hagen's character behavior towards the end. Female characters cannot be antagonists in Degeto films. And male characters? Well, they must be needy and if they are not, then they need to realize how great of a woman they are missing out on. Just take Ohrt's character's final words to Cukrowski's character. So unreal how he sucks up to her there and basically treats her like a goddess. That came out of nowhere. Also his arm movements when approaching the other woman were telling enough that she is not his dream either, even if she is much younger probably. He missed out on the greatest. Just kidding. This is a film you want to miss out on 100%. Yes, it is this terrible. Major thumbs-down and it is shameful this is still on national television almost a decade after its premiere. This is what happens with your GEZ money folks. Wasted on atrocious films and those even get reruns constantly. My worst possible rating here for the worst possible outcome.
In terms of the cast, we have a few familiar faces here that have enjoyed very long careers. Successful I am not sure. The woman you see on the right on the photo here on imdb is Gesine Cukrowski. Visually alright, but just like almost everybody else from the cast here, she is not a revelation in terms of range and versatility and that is already a pretty nice way to put it. Yes, she was that bad. Some line deliveries were almost unwatchable. One example would be when she stands up verbally against her son smoking marijuana, but I will get to the story later. The two males here are Dinda and Ohrt. The former seemed really as bland and lackluster as it gets, which made it difficult to only cheer for him one bit. And Ohrt well he always manages to deliver some kind of energy with his performances, but most of the time this also cannot hide that he is not the most talented actor out there. Again, a pretty gentle way to put. I still think he was among the better aspects of this film and this means something because his character was written as cringeworthy as it gets as well. I will get to that later. Elderly actors like Janson and Hagen are in here too. Both were closing in on 80 back then and now they are deep into their 80s, but still alive. Their screen time was really limited though, especially Janson's. Blink and he was gone as he had two or three brief scenes only. Hagen (yep, Nina's mother and Cosma Shiva's grandmother) had more screen time, but also never really made an impact and how her character changed her opinion from not giving the business to the female protagonist to giving it to her and even hugging her like a friend eventually felt very unrealistic to be honest. That's all for the cast. Lissa Schwerm is a bit of a stunner, so makes it really almost impossible to understand the male protagonist's decision near the end.
I am not sure what would have been worse here, the title they went with with its connection to flying because it's the male protagonist's hobby or "Liebe mit Nebenwirkungen", the working title that means "Love with side effects" and the only reason for that one would be that the male protagonist is a doctor. Or about to become one. As you can see, the key issue here is basically a woman entering into a romantic relationship with a considerably younger man. It was pretty hilarious how they early on showed us that her ex-man also has a much younger girlfriend now apparently and we are supposed to see this/him as despicable, especially when it is implied that the guy (Ohrt) even cheated on Cukrowski's character with the younger woman before the film started. And when Cukrowski's character starts something with Dinda's character, we see her doubts and struggles and hear her words that she never did something like that before. Okay. There we are supposed to cheer for her and the two. I know I didn't. Also the ways in which this female athlete at the hospital is attracted to Dinda's character with how she talks to him, about the wound for example, felt really uninspired and for the sake of it. Oh yes, the wound of course comes from a fight between Dinda's character and Ohrt's. That was as cringeworthy as it gets really, the inclusion of this escalation. There is so much wrong with this movie. There you can also include the ending. As always, we get the drama there and that everything is in danger of falling apart and the two are separated, but then the new girl realizes that he still loves the other woman and leaves. And he returns to Cukrowski's character (said other woman) immediately. I have no words for that.
Before that, they also included a little rushed-in pregnancy and miscarriage plot in under ten minutes. Sure thing. Stuff that, with proper elaboration, could be a foundation good enough for a miniseries or something is treated here like a side effect (no pun intended). And of course, the younger man here does not only have to accept falling completely for an older woman, but also bury his wish to become a father for her. I mean love prevails, doesn't it? I don't even. Ridiculous really. I mean her son was 100% right. What's up with birth control? They were just letting loose I assume and their tension and passion was so considerable that the result was a love child. Or would have been. Was a love pregnancy. Okay, it was not just this story during which the film was unwatchable. Also everything related to the pharmacy and the older woman being about to retire there was a joke. Be it the ways in which Cukrowski's character receives all this praise and applause constantly because she is such a hard, yet likable worker, be it her son all of a sudden working there and being playfully mocked by his mother and a colleague or be it of course the decision that of course Cukrowski's character will take over the business. Oh and by the way, speaking of the elderly woman (Hagen), she also collapsed on one occasion because it was all getting too much for her apparently. But she was alright quickly afterwards. More pseudo drama. Characters tend to collapse a lot in these films. Also applies to Cukrowski's character herself during her pregnancy. Looking at how in almost every Degeto film with a pregnant character, that character collapses on one occasion at least, you could genuinely think unconsciousness was a common symptome for pregnancies.
Okay, I'm positive you know what I am thinking about this film by now. There is not much more to add honestly. Even if I could easily find (half) a dozen more scenes and inclusions during which this film felt really somewhat wrong in my opinion. Oh yes, the fire/smoke sequence and how he basically saves her early on. So much drama here. An amount of drama that maybe happens to you in reality over the course of five, probably ten years, but here it is just a few weeks or something. Highly unrealistic and unauthentic. Oh and as a Stromberg fan I have to mention Erika or the actress in fact. I think Either-Acheampong is the name (don't wanna check now). She was in this film too, but only for a really brief moment as she turns into a bit of a rival to the female protagonist, but this plot inclusion is done away with immediately after too. No clue what was up with that. I guess it was again supposed to show us how likable Cukrowski's character is and that she never has hard feelings for anybody. It is very obvious this is a film for women. The best example is Hagen's character behavior towards the end. Female characters cannot be antagonists in Degeto films. And male characters? Well, they must be needy and if they are not, then they need to realize how great of a woman they are missing out on. Just take Ohrt's character's final words to Cukrowski's character. So unreal how he sucks up to her there and basically treats her like a goddess. That came out of nowhere. Also his arm movements when approaching the other woman were telling enough that she is not his dream either, even if she is much younger probably. He missed out on the greatest. Just kidding. This is a film you want to miss out on 100%. Yes, it is this terrible. Major thumbs-down and it is shameful this is still on national television almost a decade after its premiere. This is what happens with your GEZ money folks. Wasted on atrocious films and those even get reruns constantly. My worst possible rating here for the worst possible outcome.
