"Männertreu" is a German small-screen movie from 2014, so two more years and this one will have its 5th anniversary. It is the most known work by writer Thea Dorn, but nowhere near the most known by director Hermine Huntgeburth. The cast includes a couple well-known names too, you can find these for yourself in the list here on IMDb. This 1.5-hour film scored a solid deal of awards attention, including an Adolg Grimme Award win, for the protagonists, so I thought this could be a good film. But it is only partially. The way the characters were depicted in here is sadly over-the-top on more than just a few occasions and this especially refers to the central character played by Matthias Brandt. I kinda like him as an actor, so this was really a pity. Just a few example. The longer the film went, the more it became obvious he was literally having sex with everybody: his paramour from early on, his wife (well maybe not), his son's wife, some television politics talk show host and these are only the ones we know about. Certainly a nymphomaniac character. But there are more weak moments like the son guessing the password correctly, the call by Brandt's character at the very end to the show, the exact moment Baumeister's character wakes up etc. Like I wrote in the title of my review, it is all a bit on the soap opera side. Too much happens really for the film to stay authentic and realistic. Last but not least, all this happens to a guy who could be the next Bundespräsident. Admittedly, it would have fit in nicely with the mess this office was before Gauck.
I am disappointed how this film turned out eventually. I also think the awards bodies got it wrong. Sure you have to add spice and drama to movies to keep them from being too boring, but it is just too much here. These flaws with the script are especially bad given this could have been a solid movie actually. Yes there are some actors in here that I do not really like, but even these are pretty decent in terms of their performances and like I said the film has a good chance or receiving my praise with Brandt in the center of it all. But with the director and writer being females, maybe it is not unfair to say that the film is pretty androgynistic at times, probably more in terms of Dorn than Huntgeburth. The ending with these plants is also a bit on the pretentious side as if they somehow realized oh damn we still need to justify the title. Huntgeburth is still among the most known German female filmmakers and she has made a handful movies that justify it, but this is not one of them. Not at all. thumbs down from me. Not recommended. The best moment of the movie is probably when we hear one character wonder why the reason politicians have to leave their office is usually because they messed up in their personal lives, not in politics. Pretty true isn't it? And a nice prediction about this character's own fate I guess.
I am disappointed how this film turned out eventually. I also think the awards bodies got it wrong. Sure you have to add spice and drama to movies to keep them from being too boring, but it is just too much here. These flaws with the script are especially bad given this could have been a solid movie actually. Yes there are some actors in here that I do not really like, but even these are pretty decent in terms of their performances and like I said the film has a good chance or receiving my praise with Brandt in the center of it all. But with the director and writer being females, maybe it is not unfair to say that the film is pretty androgynistic at times, probably more in terms of Dorn than Huntgeburth. The ending with these plants is also a bit on the pretentious side as if they somehow realized oh damn we still need to justify the title. Huntgeburth is still among the most known German female filmmakers and she has made a handful movies that justify it, but this is not one of them. Not at all. thumbs down from me. Not recommended. The best moment of the movie is probably when we hear one character wonder why the reason politicians have to leave their office is usually because they messed up in their personal lives, not in politics. Pretty true isn't it? And a nice prediction about this character's own fate I guess.
