"Die Konfirmation", which means "The Confirmation" in a religious sense and not in the sense of approval, is a German television film from 2017, so not a really new or particularly old movie and this one is also known as "Zeit der Reife", which perhaps would have been a worse title, even if the one they actually went for is only in theory good. Basically after the first half hour, said confirmation is barely a factor in this film anymore because all kinds of other stories took away the attention. I will get to this later. In a desperate attempt for us to not recognize this to happen, they just finished the film with the actual confirmation event and I have rarely seen a film, in which they did include a frame between beginning and end, but this frame was executed so poorly. At the end, you had almost forgotten that this film was (supposed to be) about a confirmation. The weak outcome of these slightly under 1.5 hours is especially disappointing because director Krohmer has worked in the movie industry since the 1990s and writer Langmaack even since the 1980s. However, quantity cannot replace quality and if you take a look at their bodies of work, you will see that these are not particularly good and include many other projects that are as much on the weak side as this one here, even if it must be added that they are not horrible, not stacked with Pilcher, Lindström, Sturm der Liebe etc. Okay, so much for the makers. As for the cast: I would not say it is much better or worse than the majority of other small screen releases here in my country. Ulrike C. Tscharre who plays the main character's mother is among the most known cast members and easy to identify although it is certainly debatable if that is because of her range and versatility or just because of the fact that she looks pretty stunning for a woman around the age of 45. I think it's more of the latter as I don't think she is particularly versatile. Admittedly, the script is not doing her any favors either and probably not even the best actors could have made her character work to a really convincing degree. Another pretty famous actor (well, not as famous today anymore as 15 years ago) is Kai Wiesinger, but his role is so small here that it is really just a cameo. Blink and he is gone. Reiner Schöne, who plays Tscharre's character's father, has more screen time, but it is pretty much a nothing role and actually on the cringeworthy side how they wanted to convince us otherwise with that conversation between him and his daughter about letting your child go. A perfect example of how they literally put in zero effort, but expect the biggest emotional reaction possible from the audience. All fake, all for the sake of it. Don't be fooled. Schöne was certainly wasted with this movie and I feel a bit bad for him. Then again, he agreed to star in here and this alone should be reason enough to not have any sympathy. Ben Braun plays the father of the boy who is in the center of the story and I must say I am not familiar with him. His material was not good either though, like how he says hi to the "missing" boy when he returns right at the very start is a bit cringeworthy trying to show us they are basically peers and he is so free-spirited and later on also goes on this trip to nature with him.
The boy is played by Tim Litwinschuh and I dont think he was good enough to play a character with so much screen time at the very center of the story. He seemed lackluster at best, clearly not up to the challenge in his weakest moments and, again, the script can only make up for so much. Several times I had the impression that they were going for an actor here who is a bit similar to Timothée Chalamet, physically that is, and the one they picked may resemble him a but, but he has absolutely no range compared to the American actor and I say that as somebody who even thinks that the latter is pretty overrated. So much for the cast. As for the story, this is about a boy who joins the church and gets baptized at the very start of the film as a preparation for his confirmation later on. The first half hour of the film is the parents, nah just the mother, not being fond of the idea and trying to change the boy's mind. However, when she realizes there is no changing, she just accepts it and tries her best to accept his son's decision. This would have been alright and actually enough with in-depth elaboration, but of course as an ARD Degeto film, they had to get in a great deal more drama here and that was where the film completely lost touch to reality. Be it the rich actual father of the boy who is ready to pay a big amount of money as a reward for the confirmation the way it is handled normally, be it the proud mother who refuses said plan and as a consequence slips again into her history of gambling addiction, be it the stepdad who almost enters into an affair with the son's religion teacher, be it the son filming the two I just mentioned how they make out, be it the son's comments about he is probably gay, at least bisexual - it is all just too much. Too much for a 1.5-hour film and too much to believe these characters are actual real people. Obviously, the forced happy ending is also not missing. It's almost an insult to actual gambling addicts how quickly they rush this by her simply making sure that no casino is going to accept her ID and she protects herself like that. It never felt realistic that she started gambling (again) in the first place. Oh yeah, in order to make sure really every supporting character is messed up from the story perspective in the end, they also give the protagonist's best friend a story according to which she loves playing around with gun, even puts one into her mouth at the very end, obviously not loaded. But I can literally hear the worried parents' disapproval about this scene/character inside my imaginary ear. How evil! At the same time, I want to make clear I am not saying that I approve of this story idea whatsoever. Just for different reasons because it added absolutely nothing and was just for the sake of showing us how wild she is (they are), also with her looks. Anyway, one final note why almost nothing in this film made sense if you don't have an untrained eye is the idea of a boy who is gay joining Church. And we are led to believe he is a pretty smart boy. If you are smart, you will know exactly why this is incredibly contradictory. Okay, I think I made myself clear. Overall, a big thumbs-down for this movie. No matter, which perspective you take: This film is a failure from almost every perspective. Highly not recommended.
The boy is played by Tim Litwinschuh and I dont think he was good enough to play a character with so much screen time at the very center of the story. He seemed lackluster at best, clearly not up to the challenge in his weakest moments and, again, the script can only make up for so much. Several times I had the impression that they were going for an actor here who is a bit similar to Timothée Chalamet, physically that is, and the one they picked may resemble him a but, but he has absolutely no range compared to the American actor and I say that as somebody who even thinks that the latter is pretty overrated. So much for the cast. As for the story, this is about a boy who joins the church and gets baptized at the very start of the film as a preparation for his confirmation later on. The first half hour of the film is the parents, nah just the mother, not being fond of the idea and trying to change the boy's mind. However, when she realizes there is no changing, she just accepts it and tries her best to accept his son's decision. This would have been alright and actually enough with in-depth elaboration, but of course as an ARD Degeto film, they had to get in a great deal more drama here and that was where the film completely lost touch to reality. Be it the rich actual father of the boy who is ready to pay a big amount of money as a reward for the confirmation the way it is handled normally, be it the proud mother who refuses said plan and as a consequence slips again into her history of gambling addiction, be it the stepdad who almost enters into an affair with the son's religion teacher, be it the son filming the two I just mentioned how they make out, be it the son's comments about he is probably gay, at least bisexual - it is all just too much. Too much for a 1.5-hour film and too much to believe these characters are actual real people. Obviously, the forced happy ending is also not missing. It's almost an insult to actual gambling addicts how quickly they rush this by her simply making sure that no casino is going to accept her ID and she protects herself like that. It never felt realistic that she started gambling (again) in the first place. Oh yeah, in order to make sure really every supporting character is messed up from the story perspective in the end, they also give the protagonist's best friend a story according to which she loves playing around with gun, even puts one into her mouth at the very end, obviously not loaded. But I can literally hear the worried parents' disapproval about this scene/character inside my imaginary ear. How evil! At the same time, I want to make clear I am not saying that I approve of this story idea whatsoever. Just for different reasons because it added absolutely nothing and was just for the sake of showing us how wild she is (they are), also with her looks. Anyway, one final note why almost nothing in this film made sense if you don't have an untrained eye is the idea of a boy who is gay joining Church. And we are led to believe he is a pretty smart boy. If you are smart, you will know exactly why this is incredibly contradictory. Okay, I think I made myself clear. Overall, a big thumbs-down for this movie. No matter, which perspective you take: This film is a failure from almost every perspective. Highly not recommended.
