Die Friseuse

The hairdresser, Kathi, is talking to a dowdy customer in the opening scene. She tries to persuade the woman to let her cut and color her hair in a rejuvenating style. Kathi is so warm and appealing that the customer opens up to her and they get into deep conversation. This scene enchanted me, Kathi has a great personality, and the actress portrays a truly human character, much more real that the stereotypes that commonly seen on the screen. There are interesting insights (for US viewers)into the welfare system in Germany. I enjoyed the humor, although not able to speak German. I don't like reading subtitles usually but this story really got to me. I needed to find out what happened next, would Kathi get her Beauty Shop running in the end, and what about the Vietnamese? Inspiring, feminist and entertaining.

I am very astonished, when I read in a review that this movie is completely unfunny. As a German I consider this film to be quite funny and at the same time also reflective. It is a plot about people who are not on the sunny side of life. It is shown how they try to survive. The message is that this is easier with a positive spirit. And even when your acting is not completely legal you still remain a good hearted person. Some exaggerations are used to make this movie also funny. Obviously you need German humor to like this film. It is clear that it is difficult to translate the mood of this film into another language. There are many details which a viewer who is not familiar with German mentality and history may not understand.

An ex-East Berliner struggles with obesity and discrimination in capitalist unified Berlin. That's the basic idea. It is more of a time-capsule film than a plot-driven film. A semblance of tension is maintained by repeated applications of the what- could-possibly-go-wrong-next motif.

Is it funny? I think only a German might find it funny. I can well understand non- Germans finding it merely superficial and tedious. The film would have benefited from editing (several scenes are superfluous and could have been dropped--for example, the mysterious postal delivery). The lead, Gabriela Maria Schmeide, gives a fine and gutsy performance.

The theme of ex-East Germans suddenly confronted with unified Germany was done better in Good Bye Lenin.

For Germanic humor, I recommend Die Herbstzeitlosen aka Late Bloomers (which is actually Swiss, not German).

I really loved this movie. Subtitles and think German included. I won't go over the plot since that is mentioned in all the other reviews. It is a touching and real portrayal of an aging, overweight woman going through life with optimism and positivism. As a woman in my early forties and carrying too much on my bottom, I found it authentic and very relate-able. My mom is closer to this woman in age and personality and I saw her reflected in the portrayal given my the lead actress. I also live in an area close to where there is a very big Vietnamese population and it is quite a cultural experience which the movie addressed beautifully. All in all, the movie contains themes that many of us can identify with and will leave you inspired.

I went into this movie completely open minded in the mood for a comedy. If you find unbelievable things like a fat woman needing a rope to get out of bed funny this movie may be for you. Although I suppose that could have been for her MS too not at all clear /neither is funny.

Also early on it became obvious that they were using doubles for the nude scenes and ridiculous stuffing under the main actress's dress for the face scenes (seeing an implausible lumpy looking fat person in every other frame was supposed to be hilarious?)

Anyway about half way through I realized it was a complete dud about the time the multicultural feel good stuff started to spin. The old man at the nursing home masturbating didn't help things along either---how riotously humorous eh?

This thing is as boring and colorless as the winter sky in Northern Europe--at least as depicted in this movie. Germany is one my favorite countries this movie makes Berlin look like some sort of future dystopia.

The scenery was so drab and dreary I can't even give it my usual extra star for a foreign venue.

Even if you look at this thing as a character study movie rather than a comedy what character do we have? A woman who thinks a positive attitude changes every bad thing that can happen? It flops. Dull and boring like the character's life. The staged fake feel good PC multicultural stuff is like adding a root canal to this thing.

Achtung! Avoid!!!!