"Weil du mir gehörst" or "Because You're Mine" (accurate translation, anything with "belong to me" would have been too soft) is a German television film from 2019. Apparently this was released last year already, but probably not too many saw it there because, as you can see from the photo here on imdb, the releases that most people that came across it so far watched was the one that aired on prime time mid-February this year, which means that if we take this one, the film is not even half a year old. Last night it was shown again on a smaller television channel again during prime time. If you include closing credits, this movie is still slightly under 1.5 hours long and yesterday's version only ran for 85 minutes approximately with a pretty condensed closing credits sequence. The director is Alexander Dierbach and he has been really prolific when it comes to German television projects in recent years, which may explain why his body of work is at least as big as the one by writer Katrin Bühlig although she is over a decade older. Both their bodies of work are alright without projects that really massively stand out. However, I'd say this changes with this one here and I am indeed pretty curious what they have coming up in the next years. From what I have seen here, I think both probably bring the talent to make a transition to the big screen. Far less talented filmmakers have done it, so why not one or even of both of the two we got here. As for the cast list, it is pretty confusing here on imdb because it is alphabetical. The two lead actors are Julia Koschitz and Felix Klare playing a couple who were once in love, have a child together, but they no longer are and this film is about their struggles with finding a solution for the issue when the dad can see his daughter. There is even a specific syndrome mentioned from the scientific perspective that gives a name to why the mother acts the way she does and what the consequences are for her daughter. But I don't want to go too much into scientific matter here because I am not active in that field of expertise and cannot really judge if this was included because they were desperately trying to give this film further relevance or if this syndrome really applied here and was also depicted convincingly and accurately. However, I would not be surprised if the latter was the case here because in all other areas almost this movie delivered really well-structured attention to detail. But I was talking about the cast. Koschitz I always like, although I am not sure if it is really because of her acting or her looks. Klare I have come across in other projects too and I think both did a pretty good job here. The only other cast member I am familiar with is Teresa Harder. Normally I do not like her, but here even she was alright, even if her character is of course pretty unlikable. Shows how well the writer and director did in terms of getting the best out of their cast. This also especially applies to Lisa Marie Trense, the child actress here. A deal-breaker for this movie really. There are so many family-themed German television movies with pretty weak child actors, but here you could easily see that, despite her young age, Trense is far from a rookie. Really curious about her future too. If there is anything to criticize here, then maybe that she does not really physically resemble either of her movie parents, but that was not a problem at all the longer the film went.
Now I would like to go a bit into the specific action and scenes here. I will start with a very brief mention from early on that shows nonetheless the great attention to detail in the screenplay that I mentioned earlier. There is a scene when the father does not show up to see his daughter (or at least we are led to believe so) and the mother says something to the daughter how much daddy cares about his work and the daughter asks back if he cares more about the work than her and a neutral unbiased mother would have said that is not the case and that her father loves her, but she just moves on to a different subject with the conversation putting herself in a better light by suggesting they go visit the daughter's grandparents instead and have some fun with horses. This was one very small reference that already teaches us about the woman's intentions when it comes to alienating the daughter and her father in the long run. Also it may seem to us that daddy really screwed up because he did not show up and we see the situation through the daughter's eyes, but the truth is he is only a little late as we find out later on and he actually showed up and nobody was there anymore because they had left already to visit the grandparents. Before things get pretty ugly between the former couple there are more such scenes, some more subtle, some less subtle. Another example would be when the mother talks about a pretty insignificant car crash to her lawyer and how in her eyes the father put the daughter at risk. She basically will not accept any imperfection from the man when it comes to the girl. And aside from that, she also carries a great deal of envy around with her. The best example is how she looks at those photos with him and her new partner and how they basically act as a family when the daughter is with him and he found happiness again while she is still on her own and not in a spot at all that gives her warmth and harmony. Gender roles were also interesting in this movie. One good example is that the judge that is in full support of the mother is also female while the one near the end who rules more in favor of the father (though not 100%) is male. One thing that really makes this film very different is that the female character is the offender here, the aggressor, not only in the scene that results in the physical confrontation (she lies about this later on). Otherwise, the women at the center of the story in German television films (especially those by the crappy Degeto) are 100% and likable and have great characters and so on. But this one here does not care about gender and makes it realistic and authentic instead. Also pay attention to how both have lawyers from the opposite sex. And still Klare's character is not depicted as a saint. The best example is how he cheated on Koschitz' character during their relationship, even if it was not for years the way she exaggerates. She exaggerates a lot. This probably eventually does not only result in her daughter hating her father, but also in her parents' very one-sided perception of things. But there are also shades. The mother 100% sides with her daughter, the father does not as we find out with the comment about the children's home. He realizes that not all of it is authentic and maybe also that not all of it is really helping the child, but he is not man enough really to verbally disagree with his partner. Okay I think I will leave it at that. I thhought this was a really interesting movie and if there is anything wrong with it, then maybe that sometimes for the sake of drama they made the same mistake like the mother with the screenplay and went a little bit too much over the top. Be it the preview early on with what the daughter says about death, how mother and daughter move away all out of nowhere, the scene in which her daughter is injured because her parents fight (that looked a bit shoddy like how she even got injured there could have been depicted more convincingly) or the scene when the girl really physically injures herself near the end and maybe two or three other moments, sometimes less could have been a bit more here. But it's alright. I did not appreciate it to this extent, but I accept it for dramatic purposes and the easily influenced. Even with these minor flaws, it was still a really good movie. I also quite liked the ending. Yes it is a happy ending to some extent, but not too much. Did not feel forced at all or for the sake of it. It is an ending that is also a bit of a beginning. Not just for the relationship between the man and his daughter, but also for the mother when it comes to dealing with the new situation. An absolute contender for best German television film from its year, no matter if you consider it 2019 or 2020. Really really deserves to be seen and I was genuinely impressed by how good it was. Probably the best project for the careers of everybody involved here, maybe with the exception of "Shoppen" when it comes to Koschitz. That one is pretty amazing too though, even if for entirely different reasons. But we talked about that one on another occasion quite some time ago. All you want to know about this one here is that you absolutely should watch. Big thumbs-up and a positive recommendation with no hesitation for me. Every character here was written well and portrayed equally well, even the supporting players like those I mentioned already or also the man's new partner and how she tries to help or the man's mother. The latter does not have too much screen time, but the scene in which she sees her granddaughter at court is pretty heartbreaking with the child's reaction towwards her there. Okay, now that is really all. This movie is probably shown on many occasions still on German television over the next ten years because of how new it is, so go for it if you get the chance! The one high-quality movie that stands out compared to the gigantic amount of garbage ARD produces otherwise, especially for its smaller channels where these trash films are shown again and again in the afternoon.
Now I would like to go a bit into the specific action and scenes here. I will start with a very brief mention from early on that shows nonetheless the great attention to detail in the screenplay that I mentioned earlier. There is a scene when the father does not show up to see his daughter (or at least we are led to believe so) and the mother says something to the daughter how much daddy cares about his work and the daughter asks back if he cares more about the work than her and a neutral unbiased mother would have said that is not the case and that her father loves her, but she just moves on to a different subject with the conversation putting herself in a better light by suggesting they go visit the daughter's grandparents instead and have some fun with horses. This was one very small reference that already teaches us about the woman's intentions when it comes to alienating the daughter and her father in the long run. Also it may seem to us that daddy really screwed up because he did not show up and we see the situation through the daughter's eyes, but the truth is he is only a little late as we find out later on and he actually showed up and nobody was there anymore because they had left already to visit the grandparents. Before things get pretty ugly between the former couple there are more such scenes, some more subtle, some less subtle. Another example would be when the mother talks about a pretty insignificant car crash to her lawyer and how in her eyes the father put the daughter at risk. She basically will not accept any imperfection from the man when it comes to the girl. And aside from that, she also carries a great deal of envy around with her. The best example is how she looks at those photos with him and her new partner and how they basically act as a family when the daughter is with him and he found happiness again while she is still on her own and not in a spot at all that gives her warmth and harmony. Gender roles were also interesting in this movie. One good example is that the judge that is in full support of the mother is also female while the one near the end who rules more in favor of the father (though not 100%) is male. One thing that really makes this film very different is that the female character is the offender here, the aggressor, not only in the scene that results in the physical confrontation (she lies about this later on). Otherwise, the women at the center of the story in German television films (especially those by the crappy Degeto) are 100% and likable and have great characters and so on. But this one here does not care about gender and makes it realistic and authentic instead. Also pay attention to how both have lawyers from the opposite sex. And still Klare's character is not depicted as a saint. The best example is how he cheated on Koschitz' character during their relationship, even if it was not for years the way she exaggerates. She exaggerates a lot. This probably eventually does not only result in her daughter hating her father, but also in her parents' very one-sided perception of things. But there are also shades. The mother 100% sides with her daughter, the father does not as we find out with the comment about the children's home. He realizes that not all of it is authentic and maybe also that not all of it is really helping the child, but he is not man enough really to verbally disagree with his partner. Okay I think I will leave it at that. I thhought this was a really interesting movie and if there is anything wrong with it, then maybe that sometimes for the sake of drama they made the same mistake like the mother with the screenplay and went a little bit too much over the top. Be it the preview early on with what the daughter says about death, how mother and daughter move away all out of nowhere, the scene in which her daughter is injured because her parents fight (that looked a bit shoddy like how she even got injured there could have been depicted more convincingly) or the scene when the girl really physically injures herself near the end and maybe two or three other moments, sometimes less could have been a bit more here. But it's alright. I did not appreciate it to this extent, but I accept it for dramatic purposes and the easily influenced. Even with these minor flaws, it was still a really good movie. I also quite liked the ending. Yes it is a happy ending to some extent, but not too much. Did not feel forced at all or for the sake of it. It is an ending that is also a bit of a beginning. Not just for the relationship between the man and his daughter, but also for the mother when it comes to dealing with the new situation. An absolute contender for best German television film from its year, no matter if you consider it 2019 or 2020. Really really deserves to be seen and I was genuinely impressed by how good it was. Probably the best project for the careers of everybody involved here, maybe with the exception of "Shoppen" when it comes to Koschitz. That one is pretty amazing too though, even if for entirely different reasons. But we talked about that one on another occasion quite some time ago. All you want to know about this one here is that you absolutely should watch. Big thumbs-up and a positive recommendation with no hesitation for me. Every character here was written well and portrayed equally well, even the supporting players like those I mentioned already or also the man's new partner and how she tries to help or the man's mother. The latter does not have too much screen time, but the scene in which she sees her granddaughter at court is pretty heartbreaking with the child's reaction towwards her there. Okay, now that is really all. This movie is probably shown on many occasions still on German television over the next ten years because of how new it is, so go for it if you get the chance! The one high-quality movie that stands out compared to the gigantic amount of garbage ARD produces otherwise, especially for its smaller channels where these trash films are shown again and again in the afternoon.
