"Ich will (k)ein Kind von Dir", which means something like "I (don't) want us to become parents" is a German television movie from 2016 that like most German small screen releases runs for 90 minutes approximately. It was directed by Ingo Rasper who is a fairly experienced (TV) filmmaker and written by Katrin Bühring and this is her only writing credit. A bit surprising honestly because she is mostly a really prolific actress, but she did not act in here for a change, but as in charge of the story. The good news is her effort here is not worse than what more experienced writers have come up with in German (television) film in recent years, the bad news is that is mostly because these were relatively bad and not because her script was particularly good. And it is still a deal-breaker without a doubt, in my opinion the screenplay is really the most important component of any movie, so sadly this has a negative impact on the film. i will get to that in detail soon. The cast is above-average for sure for a small screen release. Klare isn't famous, but you recognize him if you have seen many German films. His female co-lead, Austrian actress Franziska Weisz is definitely more famous even and Kroymann and Wittenborn are always easy to identify. Maybe Harder looks familiar to some too, even if all three of them do not really have any material to shine.
Now as for the story, we have a couple in their late 30s here and it is all about if they want to become parents or not. The woman is a definite no on the matter, while the man clearly wants to become a dad as we find out soon, even if there are moments when he tells his partner that it is okay and it is more important for him to be with her than to have a child. This subject is sadly elaborated on in a pretty ringeworthy manner at times, especially when they used metaphprs like the tree-planting scene. Or when the daughter of another character of course asks the protagonist if he wants children too. Or when we constantly see him melancholically looking at children. Or when he meets a former girlfriend who has a child now and actually just became pregnant weeks after their break-up apparently. It is a bit exaggerated and too much over the top and it all feels pretty much for the sake of it and not particularly realistic anymore. Same about the ending when the female chharacter does get pregnant and keep the child as we find out after a pseodo-dramatic abortion story line. Goes very much with the trend of sacrificing authentic filmmaking for feel-good happy ending moments what we have here and even if I did not really see it coming, I was not too surprised either. One of very few good aspects here is that the film was not too predictable. You could never be sure if they split up and find partners who share their life plans or if they stay together and maybe adopt or if the other child is actually his or however things would turn out in the end. Not that I particularly like the path they chose. I mean it is okay, but then they should not have built up the idea that she 100% does not want children, even calls the child in her body just a bunch of cells. Or that she actually gets pregnant from his little scheme or that they are basically both cheating on each other the very same evening. Now that was cringeworthy and showed to me that there was too much broken in their relationship for them to stay together in the end, no matter how many times they told each other they are in love. So yeah, a lot wrong with this film. One thing that was not wrong was Weisz' performance. Pretty impressive what she made of this poorly written character in the end. One of the reasons why this film is not a failure, but still way below territory where I would give it a positive recommendation. I suggest you skip the watch as I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
Now as for the story, we have a couple in their late 30s here and it is all about if they want to become parents or not. The woman is a definite no on the matter, while the man clearly wants to become a dad as we find out soon, even if there are moments when he tells his partner that it is okay and it is more important for him to be with her than to have a child. This subject is sadly elaborated on in a pretty ringeworthy manner at times, especially when they used metaphprs like the tree-planting scene. Or when the daughter of another character of course asks the protagonist if he wants children too. Or when we constantly see him melancholically looking at children. Or when he meets a former girlfriend who has a child now and actually just became pregnant weeks after their break-up apparently. It is a bit exaggerated and too much over the top and it all feels pretty much for the sake of it and not particularly realistic anymore. Same about the ending when the female chharacter does get pregnant and keep the child as we find out after a pseodo-dramatic abortion story line. Goes very much with the trend of sacrificing authentic filmmaking for feel-good happy ending moments what we have here and even if I did not really see it coming, I was not too surprised either. One of very few good aspects here is that the film was not too predictable. You could never be sure if they split up and find partners who share their life plans or if they stay together and maybe adopt or if the other child is actually his or however things would turn out in the end. Not that I particularly like the path they chose. I mean it is okay, but then they should not have built up the idea that she 100% does not want children, even calls the child in her body just a bunch of cells. Or that she actually gets pregnant from his little scheme or that they are basically both cheating on each other the very same evening. Now that was cringeworthy and showed to me that there was too much broken in their relationship for them to stay together in the end, no matter how many times they told each other they are in love. So yeah, a lot wrong with this film. One thing that was not wrong was Weisz' performance. Pretty impressive what she made of this poorly written character in the end. One of the reasons why this film is not a failure, but still way below territory where I would give it a positive recommendation. I suggest you skip the watch as I give this one a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
