Sterben

Even Leo TOLSTOY knew that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This is also clear to the German film director Matthias GLASNER, who was awarded the Silver Bear at the BERLINALE 2024 for his new film DYING. But he can add the North German Protestant variant to the theme, which further intensifies the familial melancholy.

Lissy Lunies (Corinna HARFOUCH) and her husband Gerd (Hans Uwe BAUER) live in a small North German town and are already severely affected by old age. Accepting help is difficult for both of them. Their two children live far away and are badly hit by their own problems. Son Tom (Lars EIDINGER) lives in Berlin and is somewhat successful as a conductor, but is hopelessly entangled in private quarrels. Daughter Ellen (Lilith STANGENBERG) lives in Hamburg and is so committed to an alcohol-soaked lifestyle that she wakes up in Latvia after a night of drinking. It's true! Both are confronted in different ways with their parents' infirmity and their own inadequacies.

The fact that the film doesn't get boring over its three-hour running time is thanks to the fantastic cast, which also includes Anna BEDERKE, Robert GWISDEK, Saerom PARK, Saskia ROSENDAHL and Ronald ZEHRFELD. The German actors Corinna HARFOUCH (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Nominee 1989 for TREFFEN IN TRAVERS) and Hans Uwe BAUER have been awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD of the year 2024 for their splendid performances. The showdown at the coffee table between HARFOUCH and EIDINGER is one of the most impressive things to have been seen in German cinema in recent years. The Lunies family is unhappy in their own way.

A melancholy film from the German-speaking world! Haven't we seen enough of that already? Yes and no. Of course, as a cinema-goer you ask yourself whether this is typically German (or at least northern German) or whether it would be possible in other cultures. But Matthias GLASNER aims very high and takes his cues from cinema greats such as Ingmar BERGMAN and Federico FELLINI. After all, it's not for nothing that Tom Lunies prefers to watch the four-hour TV version of FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1983) on Christmas Eve. And the character played by Robert GWISDEK (in real life, HARFOUCH's son) reminds me, at least, of Steiner played by Alain CUNY in LA DOLCE VITA (1959).

Of course, depressing German cinema is not everyone's cup of tea. But the way the story is so close to reality has a very special impact that you should definitely expose yourself to.

Clearly recommended!

I just saw Sterben in a small retrospective of Best Films of 2024 (based on Dutch release dates). It is one of the few highly rated 2024 films I haven't seen yet. I'm glad I went, because the 3-hour family saga is truly great. All of Us Strangers remains my favorite movie of the year (it's one of my favorites of the decade), but Sterben isn't far behind. Yes, I like some Drama in my drama.

The alcoholic sister part is a the more predictable, in that it follows a lot of self-destructive drunk tropes. It is still solid and there is no denying the greatness of the drunk bar dentistry scene.

But the son-mother plotline is Bergman-level, especially the dinner table scene where Lars Eidinger and Corinna Harfouch absolutely shine.

Eidinger's character Tom is a conductor and works with the depressed and neurotic composer, who is also a close friend, on a piece during the movie. This is really well done; the piece really develops during the movie.

A little running gag I like, is that Tom who goes from crisis to crisis, wears a hat that has 'Don't Panic' on it.