Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken

In Weimar Germany, school friends Paul and Günther travel to Günther's parents' summer house outside Berlin, full of plans for a drink-fuelled weekend of hedonism. Joining Günther's sister Hilde, a cocktail of unrequited sexual desire, boredom and indolence leads to tragedy.

Beautifully filmed and superbly acted film in the traditions of Gatsby and Brideshead. From an adult point of view, the idea of youth asking 'is that all there is'? is at once both trite and unsettling. Cleverly, von Borries creates a world devoid of adults, where thoughts and feelings are heightened to the point of delirium, and he is well served by his three leads - Diehl and Mühe in particular are captivating as the spoiled and indulgent brother and sister. A heady exploration of privileged, destructive youth.

I saw this film recently at the Stockholm International Film Festival of 2004. More of a coincidence than deliberately i might add, since the premises of the film did not really seem to suit me. But being a sucker for German films (also always wanting to test my failing German language skills) i decided to give it a try, and i'm quite happy that i did.

Set in the decadent days of 1920's (or maybe 1930's?) Berlin, this is a story of world-weary rich teens looking for new kicks to make their life interesting. The two friends Günther and Paul go out one weekend to Günthers family's summer house, for partying and drinking. Troubled love is involved and soon things spiral out of control.

I did enjoy this film quite a lot. I'm sure the slow pace will put some people off, but i had no problem with it. I found the actors to be the films most prominent strength, many of them managed great performances. Also i found the lack of sex and nudity (in a film revolving mostly around love and sex) to be liberating. It never feels like exploitation.

The one thing that put me down a bit is that i don't really know what the film-makers wanted to say with this. We get a view of events happening, but where is the point of all these events? Perhaps that is for us to find out, but i still feel i would have liked some sort of closure. This is a small point though, and probably also something that won't bother most viewers. So i'm confident in recommending this to anyone interested in this kind of film. It's a nice period piece, and well worth watching if you are not put off by the somewhat slow pace.

I rate it 6/10.

"Was nuetzt die Liebe in Gedanken" is a very slow and intense film . The camera is awesome and the actors are doing a really good job. Although the film is set in the 1920th its focus is not set on historic details but on the timeless story of young men being in love. It's based on real incidents - Paul and his friend Guenther are in love. Paul with Guenther's sister and Guenther with his sisters boyfriend. Because they feel that their love will not be repeated they decide that once both are happy - they are going to commit suicide. During the whole movie there is that dark feeling creeping through the extremley beautiful pictures. It's a truly wonderful sad and elegant movie about unfulfilled love and the confusion of youth.

This movie is very intensive. Two very good actors - Daniel Brühl and August Diehl -, a grandiose camera and a mood-laden director presents us one early film-highlight of 2004! Everything is right in this movie, even the music from the 20ths. I think it is a must!

"Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken" is a fine made coming of age flick about a group young guys, who are playing with the Ideas of true love, the meaning of life and the question, if murder could be an expression of love. It tells a true story. And even if it set in the early 1930's, the questions and feelings witch are explored are timeless and that's why the movie is reaching us in our time and life. Daniel Brühl (good bye Lenin) and August Diehl (23) - both winner of the German actor-movie-award - playing their Part of the young feeling shaken men so touching and faithful, that you get to know, why they won their award. Brilliant Pictures, a great score, a touching story - a wonderful movie. This kind is a rare thing.