Raub ihren Atem

No pun intended - or take her breath away as a song from the 80s has told us. Although the movie itself is talking about stealing of course. That all aside it's interesting to hear that Room in Rome was one of the major inspirations in making this movie - De Palma and other stuff included of course. We are all informed by stuff we have seen and that has formed us.

This is the second movie of the director and his willingness to corporate with his actors is amazing! Especially when it comes to things that he may not have the biggest understanding of - you can feel that the movie is enriched by the actors and it is especially evident in the major ... well erotic scene, which is done more than delicately ... and also really gives the impression of two individuals just giving in ... maybe even against their own better judgement. I reckon in that regard it has something of Brokeback Mountain ... well other parallels can be seen too I reckon? But that all only works because the actors are up to the task - and the director as mentioned was willing to listen.

Not perfect in any regard, but a work of passion (again no pun intended), this is also a love letter to accents (Swabian being one of them and ... is it saxon?). In any case two of the less liked accents in Germany - especially when it comes to ... well foreplay or "sex" in general ... a special shout out to the music composed for the movie and especially for the love scene - delicate and hitting exactly the right note(s) ... well had to go there one final/last time.

The self-claim to want to produce Hollywood-like cinema here is far off the mark. The use of dialect and then not even the correct one from the area where the film is supposed to be set contradicts this and makes the whole thing look ridiculous which probably wasn't the intention.

This scares away large sections of the intended target audience.

At times it seems thrown together at random and overloaded.

Moreover, in typical German cinema fashion, the soundtrack sounds like a canned recording.

Not to mention the male gaze of the hotel scene. Was a (lesbian) woman even involved here?

It seems like the director tried to cram all his fantasies and inspirations into one film.

At least the camerawork was decent as well as the music selection.

Great ambitions that were sadly not realised.

I dont know how this movie works in other languages, but in the Original German Version there is a spin you might miss: The main actors speak very different dialect (Swabish and Saxon Dialect) that are strongly different and for some from other regions: some words might sound a bit funny. The clash between the main actors speaking different dialects makes a lot of the fun you might miss, when you are a non native German speaker.

The movie itself is a stylish and suspenseful crime drama that delivers a captivating story of a high-stakes game between a brilliant thief, Laura, and a relentless detective, Maxine. The film boasts a sharp script, keeping you guessing until the very end. "Steal her breath" is a heartwarming homage to pulp movies as well as a lot of classic gangster movies, where you can find elements in this one. It makes a lot of fun recognizing certain parts or dialogues from other classic movies.

And last but not least: this film is sexy as hell. I havent seen such a long and hot FF Scene on the silver screen for a long time.

With its Rawness, the obeisance to classic movies and its original own approach and script "Steal her Breath" has a chance to become a Cult-Film for at least German Native Speaker.