"Gestern waren wir Fremde" (which means "Yesterday we were strangers") or "Strangers and Lovers" is a German television film from 2012, so not too long anymore until this one has its 10th anniversary, maybe it happened already depending on when you read this review. Like the vast majority of German small screen releases, this one here runs for 1.5 hours and the director is Matthias Tiefenbacher. I would say that looking at his body of work, it is not a weak filmmaker, but there are flaws there without a doubt. Admittedly, it still looks better than the bodies of work of his two writers Herzfeld and Kluger and their efforts here were the key reason why I cannot give this movie a positive recommendation. But first things first: The central character is played by Lisa Wagner. There is something really unique to her I'd say. It's tough to say what exactly it is, probably most of all her line delivery. It's very very strange. It feels wooden yet restrained (in a positive way) at the exact same time. The consequence is that she probably relies on a good screenplay and most of all good lines more than pretty much all the other actors because if the writing is poor, then it is really easy to see. Sadly, there are many examples of that in this movie here. I could probably list a dozen, but let's just mention the comment towards the end she makes about how she always wanted a brother. Or when she explains a certain technique to her dad even later in the movie, not too far away from the closing credits in fact. But I think she is only partially to blame, if at all. She plays in a crime series as well from which I have seen several episodes and I am probably biased because of her looks, even if I'd like her far better with longer and darker hair. Okay, let's not driift away. Her male co-lead (on the verge of supporting) is played by André Szymanski, at least as experienced as Wagner and a familiar face as well, even if I could not immediately make a connection to other films I have seen him in. They are there though for sure. Still his role here added very little for me. Given the amount of screen time he has, it was a surprisingly bland character, maybe performance as well, but I think the actor here struggles as well with how the character was written. Extremely difficult to shine with the material. And a third actor I would like to mention is Thomas Thieme. I am a great fan of him and think he is one of the best (if not the best) German television actor from the last 20 years. And he did not only appear on the small screen. He also showed up in films like "Das Leben der Anderen", "Der Untergang" and "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex". Really impressive, even if he never played key character. Here his character is at least somewhat key, not the main character, but her dad and also thanks to Thieme, the father-daughter story kept this film from getting really weak. It is vastly superior to the romance plot. Especially Thieme's display of aggression on several occasions is among the most memorable aspects this movie has to offer. And yet he is a tortured soul as we find out towards the end with what he had to keep secret for decades. And he lost the woman he loved. We should not forget that, even if his character is not one that shows his feelings and emotions. The best example is already the very first scene at the birthday party, not only how he reacts to the present, but also how he reacts to seeing his daughter for the first time after quite a while. Pretty cold.
Okay, I already mentioned the romance part. This one never gained steam. It was also doomed for failure from the very start. How the two keep running into each other was fairly pathetic and this is one thing I meant when saying "completely unrealistic" in the title of my review. First at the train station, then when they are queuing and all of a sudden they are neighbors. And the coffee scene is not half as charming or sweet as they wanted it to be. Pretty embarrassing, they even referenced it later on. This reference later on is in a scene with Anna Maria Sturm, who plays the male protagonist's sister. Oh well, she is also not good at all. The only one who really delivered from the cast was Thieme, maybe von Sell too, but she does not have too much screen time. But she looked a lot like Wagner. That was a good casting decision for sure that she would play her mother. Anyway, back to the romance: Another unrealistic moment is the gigantic revelation towards the end. I said that I include spoilers, so here goes. The two have the same father. Now this was absolutely not acceptable anymore after previous lack of realism, but honestly this was just such a tiny chance that I fail to even believe it at all. It's ridiculous. Oh yeah, the mother dying in a car accident is also a moment when the film goes very much over the top for dramatic purposes and it's not working at all, even if I kinda liked how daughter and husband (I cannot say "her father anymore) were reacting to this tragedy. They may not be so different after all, this is also show on other occasions, most of all that both seem to carry a lot of anger with them and when it bursts out, it feels similar with these two. So yeah, another reference why I found the Thieme/Wagner plot far more interesting than the Szymanski/Wagner plot. I should like the exact ending also more than I did eventually. How Thieme's character all out of nowhere decides to keep the house went very strongly against everything before that and there also was not a moment of harmony really before that the one we get when the closing credits roll in. I mean seeing Thieme make these funny jumps was nice, but it felt very much for the sake of a happy ending and again not too realistic. There is no denying that. I mean I would not have been against an unhappy ending or an open ending as we see the two lovebirds (yep she loves him too) get sexual again despite what they knew about each other at that point in the sense of a troubling forbidden fruit closure. That could have been an interesting ending for sure, better than the actual one perhaps if executed with precision. I think they could have made it work. Where this film struggles the most is the key plot, not really the smaller moments and attention to detail. These are alright. But even I as a big Thieme fan cannot deny that the awards recognition he received here was probably a bit exaggerated, even if it was also for other films and not just this one here. Two of three nominations (including the only win) this film scored went to him and all three nominations came from pretty prestigious awards bodies. That must be said, even if I definitely do not agree with these awards on many other occasions. Okay that would be all then. The film's (German) title is alright and at the end it makes sense that it refers to the two lovers, still they could have come up with something better there too I believe. Overall, I give this movie a negative recommendation. It just lacks authenticity in the grand scheme of things. Watch something else instead.
Okay, I already mentioned the romance part. This one never gained steam. It was also doomed for failure from the very start. How the two keep running into each other was fairly pathetic and this is one thing I meant when saying "completely unrealistic" in the title of my review. First at the train station, then when they are queuing and all of a sudden they are neighbors. And the coffee scene is not half as charming or sweet as they wanted it to be. Pretty embarrassing, they even referenced it later on. This reference later on is in a scene with Anna Maria Sturm, who plays the male protagonist's sister. Oh well, she is also not good at all. The only one who really delivered from the cast was Thieme, maybe von Sell too, but she does not have too much screen time. But she looked a lot like Wagner. That was a good casting decision for sure that she would play her mother. Anyway, back to the romance: Another unrealistic moment is the gigantic revelation towards the end. I said that I include spoilers, so here goes. The two have the same father. Now this was absolutely not acceptable anymore after previous lack of realism, but honestly this was just such a tiny chance that I fail to even believe it at all. It's ridiculous. Oh yeah, the mother dying in a car accident is also a moment when the film goes very much over the top for dramatic purposes and it's not working at all, even if I kinda liked how daughter and husband (I cannot say "her father anymore) were reacting to this tragedy. They may not be so different after all, this is also show on other occasions, most of all that both seem to carry a lot of anger with them and when it bursts out, it feels similar with these two. So yeah, another reference why I found the Thieme/Wagner plot far more interesting than the Szymanski/Wagner plot. I should like the exact ending also more than I did eventually. How Thieme's character all out of nowhere decides to keep the house went very strongly against everything before that and there also was not a moment of harmony really before that the one we get when the closing credits roll in. I mean seeing Thieme make these funny jumps was nice, but it felt very much for the sake of a happy ending and again not too realistic. There is no denying that. I mean I would not have been against an unhappy ending or an open ending as we see the two lovebirds (yep she loves him too) get sexual again despite what they knew about each other at that point in the sense of a troubling forbidden fruit closure. That could have been an interesting ending for sure, better than the actual one perhaps if executed with precision. I think they could have made it work. Where this film struggles the most is the key plot, not really the smaller moments and attention to detail. These are alright. But even I as a big Thieme fan cannot deny that the awards recognition he received here was probably a bit exaggerated, even if it was also for other films and not just this one here. Two of three nominations (including the only win) this film scored went to him and all three nominations came from pretty prestigious awards bodies. That must be said, even if I definitely do not agree with these awards on many other occasions. Okay that would be all then. The film's (German) title is alright and at the end it makes sense that it refers to the two lovers, still they could have come up with something better there too I believe. Overall, I give this movie a negative recommendation. It just lacks authenticity in the grand scheme of things. Watch something else instead.
