"Ohne Dich" is a German television film from 2014, so this one is also already comfortably over five years old and depending on when you show up here and read this review of mine, it could very well be over ten years already. I think this will be on for quite some time in the future too, which is definitely not a good thing given the quality. Oh and the title is so random and shallow that it is not even the only 2014 film called like that. You should not mistake it though for the theatrical release starring Katja Riemann and others. By the way, I also need to talk about the photo here on imdb. The German title simply means "Without You", but for the international title, they took a completely different route it seems. "What the Cliffs last saw" Are they for real? And as if this wasn't bad enough already, the "a love that can survive everyting" below makes things way worse honestly. So you know what you can expect here really. It may not be the usual ARD (Degeto) nonsense, but the way they elaborated on this being a suspense thriller for the most part was downright unwatchable. The director of these minimally under 1.5 hours i Florian Baxmeyer and I cannot deny that I am disappointed he was a key figure in the making of this mess, even if the screen writers are more to blame. We will come to them in a second. As for Baxmeyer, he was an Oscar nominee almost two decades age and most of the stuff he did afterwards, was also solid or at least not terrible. This film is the exception and a definite contender for career-worst from him. I guess the only reason he accepted the part was because this was not the typical ARD romance comedy movie. But it is as much of a mess, just from a different perspective. We have a massive amount of writers here, four people in fact. And it is pretty shocking how it seems they truly brought out the worst in each other. I will spare you the names as you can check these out for yourself, but if you take a look at how they worked on Alarm für Cobra 11, Lilly Schönauer adaptations, Emilie Richards adaptations, Inga Lindström adaptations, Dora Heldt adaptations, Tatort and other pretty terrible projects, this one here was doomed from the very start. It also seems at least tthe three women collaborate regularly and I cannot even blame them. The ones really to blame are those who still employ them for their movies and series.
As for the cast, the lead actress and woman you see on the poster is Stefanie Stappenbeck and she was around the age of 40 when she made this movie. I have seen her in other stuff as I remembered her looks, her name not really. Also I see she has been a regular on the Hamburg Tatorts starring Til Schweiger. No comment on that. I guess it is self-explanatory. She may not be as bad as Furtwängler or Gehlen if we are talking blonde television actresses, but she is pretty bad nonetheless. Absolutely no lead actress material. The man you see on the photo is Andreas Pietschmann, five years older than Stappenbeck, and his body of work is slightly better, even if there are weak spots too, for example playing next to Veronica Ferres in that mafia movie. He seems to have a connection with blone untalented actresses and mafia references if we are looking at this one here as well. But his recent success with Dark surely deserves a mention. I know many people loved this show. Anyway, here he may be the protagonist's partner, but he does not have a lot of screen time because of his character's tragic(?) fate. The actual male lead (or at least the one with the most screen time) is Oliver Mommsen. Nothing positive to say about him. When this film got made, he had already been in the industry for over two decades, but he still appears in stuff like that and over 30 Tatort episodes are nothing to be proud of either, no matter how much simple fellas and the mainstream media want you to think otherwise. More familiar faces in here: Grossmann is always easy to identify for me, not really sure why, maybe because of his physicality. Perumal's photo here on imdb is so absurd. Danowski is a very prolific actress, but never really remember her, just her name sounds familiar. And Renate Krößner will always be remembered for Solo Sunny, but even if one shall not speak poorly of the dead, she is not a particularly talented actress either. May she rest in peace though.
Let's take a look at the story now and why I thought this was such a bad movie. One key aspect is certainly that the film took itself so seriously although it did not have any right to do so and you can see it at the very first shot already with this kinda tragic stringer music there and the blue water we see. This is also a reference to the area where a lot of the film takes place and it's not in Germany. But switches back when the protagonist returns home for a while. The two lovers here are on vacation early on and having a great time, enjoying the sun, water and each other. However, the man all of a sudden goes on a boat trip and does not return and not much later the authorities tell Stappenbeck's character that there is no hope anymore and that he died in the water most likely. She will not accept that though and keeps investigating on her own.Until then, it is still remotely tolerable, even if his words about how she should not be on cliffs before he vanishes are a bit cringeworthy, but somewhat explained through the ending. However, things do get worse quickly. So many embarrassing moments. Like how the man had a sister that the woman at the center of the story did not know about. How she follows said sister into a place at the docks or so, also the woman's outfit with the glasses and clothes like a really poor version of Huppert or how she attacks her in said scene were so embarrassing. Same applies to the computer investigations from Stappenbeck's character. Or how said sister collapses immediately right after she reveals who she is and dies minutes later. Unreal stuff honestly. The way they used this character for mystery reasons was an absolute travesty.
Away from the suspense now, ARD (Degeto) always gets in anti-male messages in these films. Sometimes subtle, sometimes not so much. Here it's mostly Mommsen's character who brings that to the table. Like how he is really needy and constantly taking care of the female protagonist and still she does not want him one bit, does not even show gratitude really, but only cares about her missing man. One good example is when she says she'd rather wants to be alone now. Or another would be when the two were at the cinema and he tries to lift her up a bit all the time. His comment there about movies with very long running times were a prime example of how they even got the smalles quotes wrong here. Besides, Stappenbeck's character is of course a successful businesswoman too running an exquisite restaurant. Basically always applies to the protagonists in these films that they have great business talent and can succeed in a world run by men. Much better than men in fact. She also gets constantly praised by the people eating at her restaurant about how good the food is. But to show us how all this drama affects her professional life, they got in her two meltdowns here, like the phone call where nobody responds at the other end of the line and when she screams that she is annoyed by how everybody says her man is dead. Poor acting and writing combined there. Especially in the dramatic moments, they were getting it all wrong for sure. And also because they were not good enough to actually write authentic empowered female characters here, they just got in more misandry with Elmira Rafizadeh's character. Didn't mention the actress early on because I don't know her really. But she was kinda stunning. Anyway, she plays a good friend and colleague of the protagonist and on one occasion we find out how she got cheated on or treated poorly by her boyfriend and this ended the relationship and keeps insulting him and of course we also find out that he now that all of this happened keeps calling her and wants her back. Sure thing. Absolutely no connection to the story otherwise, but makes sense to get in more anti-male agenda. Makes no sense otherwise.
Okay, to sum it all up, let's talk a bit about the end of the movie at the end of my review. What do we have here? The man is alive as we find out and of course there is a happy ending, just like there always is with these films. But first of all, it was really confusing how the man was there at her home earlier already, but apparently just a figment of her imagination. These scenes could have really made an impact, but truth is they just felt for the sake of it all. And realism with this film apparently means that there is a guy coming down the stairs, random neighbor, when she opens the door to her apartment. Anyway, as for the ending, the little note from the local boy was as cringeworthy as it got already. This note was a farewell letter. And it was so serious to the man to protect his woman from the mob that he just shows up immediately afterwards randomly when she is at the beach and the two are united again and have sex immediately. Yeah right, their love is more passionate and stronger than any danger right? Of course we don't see breasts or anything else in that scene and they truly kept it family-friendly, but still it was fairly embarrassing. Then there is a moment afterwards when we are again supposed to worry and care as it seems that the man could have left already again the next morning, but no he was just in the water already. And the two are united still as the closing credits roll in. Sure thing. Let me say that, maybe if it sounds sadistic, but I would have loved an ending where some Mafia guy would have shown up and killed them both. Or at least the man, which would have been more realistic. But truth is nothing like that happens and they live happily ever after. Terrible movie, also makes you kinda hate Trenet's La Mer.
As for the cast, the lead actress and woman you see on the poster is Stefanie Stappenbeck and she was around the age of 40 when she made this movie. I have seen her in other stuff as I remembered her looks, her name not really. Also I see she has been a regular on the Hamburg Tatorts starring Til Schweiger. No comment on that. I guess it is self-explanatory. She may not be as bad as Furtwängler or Gehlen if we are talking blonde television actresses, but she is pretty bad nonetheless. Absolutely no lead actress material. The man you see on the photo is Andreas Pietschmann, five years older than Stappenbeck, and his body of work is slightly better, even if there are weak spots too, for example playing next to Veronica Ferres in that mafia movie. He seems to have a connection with blone untalented actresses and mafia references if we are looking at this one here as well. But his recent success with Dark surely deserves a mention. I know many people loved this show. Anyway, here he may be the protagonist's partner, but he does not have a lot of screen time because of his character's tragic(?) fate. The actual male lead (or at least the one with the most screen time) is Oliver Mommsen. Nothing positive to say about him. When this film got made, he had already been in the industry for over two decades, but he still appears in stuff like that and over 30 Tatort episodes are nothing to be proud of either, no matter how much simple fellas and the mainstream media want you to think otherwise. More familiar faces in here: Grossmann is always easy to identify for me, not really sure why, maybe because of his physicality. Perumal's photo here on imdb is so absurd. Danowski is a very prolific actress, but never really remember her, just her name sounds familiar. And Renate Krößner will always be remembered for Solo Sunny, but even if one shall not speak poorly of the dead, she is not a particularly talented actress either. May she rest in peace though.
Let's take a look at the story now and why I thought this was such a bad movie. One key aspect is certainly that the film took itself so seriously although it did not have any right to do so and you can see it at the very first shot already with this kinda tragic stringer music there and the blue water we see. This is also a reference to the area where a lot of the film takes place and it's not in Germany. But switches back when the protagonist returns home for a while. The two lovers here are on vacation early on and having a great time, enjoying the sun, water and each other. However, the man all of a sudden goes on a boat trip and does not return and not much later the authorities tell Stappenbeck's character that there is no hope anymore and that he died in the water most likely. She will not accept that though and keeps investigating on her own.Until then, it is still remotely tolerable, even if his words about how she should not be on cliffs before he vanishes are a bit cringeworthy, but somewhat explained through the ending. However, things do get worse quickly. So many embarrassing moments. Like how the man had a sister that the woman at the center of the story did not know about. How she follows said sister into a place at the docks or so, also the woman's outfit with the glasses and clothes like a really poor version of Huppert or how she attacks her in said scene were so embarrassing. Same applies to the computer investigations from Stappenbeck's character. Or how said sister collapses immediately right after she reveals who she is and dies minutes later. Unreal stuff honestly. The way they used this character for mystery reasons was an absolute travesty.
Away from the suspense now, ARD (Degeto) always gets in anti-male messages in these films. Sometimes subtle, sometimes not so much. Here it's mostly Mommsen's character who brings that to the table. Like how he is really needy and constantly taking care of the female protagonist and still she does not want him one bit, does not even show gratitude really, but only cares about her missing man. One good example is when she says she'd rather wants to be alone now. Or another would be when the two were at the cinema and he tries to lift her up a bit all the time. His comment there about movies with very long running times were a prime example of how they even got the smalles quotes wrong here. Besides, Stappenbeck's character is of course a successful businesswoman too running an exquisite restaurant. Basically always applies to the protagonists in these films that they have great business talent and can succeed in a world run by men. Much better than men in fact. She also gets constantly praised by the people eating at her restaurant about how good the food is. But to show us how all this drama affects her professional life, they got in her two meltdowns here, like the phone call where nobody responds at the other end of the line and when she screams that she is annoyed by how everybody says her man is dead. Poor acting and writing combined there. Especially in the dramatic moments, they were getting it all wrong for sure. And also because they were not good enough to actually write authentic empowered female characters here, they just got in more misandry with Elmira Rafizadeh's character. Didn't mention the actress early on because I don't know her really. But she was kinda stunning. Anyway, she plays a good friend and colleague of the protagonist and on one occasion we find out how she got cheated on or treated poorly by her boyfriend and this ended the relationship and keeps insulting him and of course we also find out that he now that all of this happened keeps calling her and wants her back. Sure thing. Absolutely no connection to the story otherwise, but makes sense to get in more anti-male agenda. Makes no sense otherwise.
Okay, to sum it all up, let's talk a bit about the end of the movie at the end of my review. What do we have here? The man is alive as we find out and of course there is a happy ending, just like there always is with these films. But first of all, it was really confusing how the man was there at her home earlier already, but apparently just a figment of her imagination. These scenes could have really made an impact, but truth is they just felt for the sake of it all. And realism with this film apparently means that there is a guy coming down the stairs, random neighbor, when she opens the door to her apartment. Anyway, as for the ending, the little note from the local boy was as cringeworthy as it got already. This note was a farewell letter. And it was so serious to the man to protect his woman from the mob that he just shows up immediately afterwards randomly when she is at the beach and the two are united again and have sex immediately. Yeah right, their love is more passionate and stronger than any danger right? Of course we don't see breasts or anything else in that scene and they truly kept it family-friendly, but still it was fairly embarrassing. Then there is a moment afterwards when we are again supposed to worry and care as it seems that the man could have left already again the next morning, but no he was just in the water already. And the two are united still as the closing credits roll in. Sure thing. Let me say that, maybe if it sounds sadistic, but I would have loved an ending where some Mafia guy would have shown up and killed them both. Or at least the man, which would have been more realistic. But truth is nothing like that happens and they live happily ever after. Terrible movie, also makes you kinda hate Trenet's La Mer.
