Desligando Charleen

A few weeks ago I accidentally stumbled over this movie on Bavarian TV. Because of its dry sense of humour it felt immediately different from the usual German comedies because this movie in its essence is meant to be a comedy despite the fact that it is about the suicide attempt of a teenager.

In my eyes the film's main character Charleen is just adorable. Despite her cynical comments the nice girl inside the rebellious teenager always remains visible, especially when being with her Grandma, who she calls her best friend. The persuasiveness of Charleen's character must also be greatly credited to the excellent playing of Jasna Fritzi Bauer, who has done a great job in creating this witty character half in despair. Quite incredible also that Jasna was already 24 years old, when the movie was made.

At certain moments, however, it felt difficult to understand why Charleen is feeling so desperate and not understood, because the environment and family she is growing up in may not be perfect but is still a caring one. Especially the relationship to her mother seems to be in good order. On the other hand, the chaotic emotional mix of a teenager, who is trying to define herself in a world, that more and more loses its fairy tale character of childhood, comes across very plausible, so that in a certain way the suicide attempt makes sense, especially with someone who has a weakness for anything dead in the first place. In the end it turns out that it was only meant to be a cry for help, as it often is the case.

Next to the main character Charleen the movie offers a good mix of interesting underparts with likewise good acting performances. Some scenes at the psychotherapist, to which Charleen is sent to, are just hilarious.

The movie also convinces for its realistic and witty dialogues, in which sometimes harsh words are spoken out but overall the movie is not over the top rude. It just feels like real world conversations.

Moreover, the movie is full of funny ideas. For instance Charleen's weakness for anything dead is exemplified by the 3 facts that she is an admirer of dead musicians like Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse, that she is collecting self-made Polaroid photos of dead animals found on the street and that she's doing her internship with an undertaker. When sitting in the waiting room of her psychotherapist we can see her imagining how the suicide attempts of the other clients failed because she cannot imagine any other reason why someone would consult a psychotherapist.

Also the class room scene in which Charleen and her best friend Isa remove the condomes from the rubber penises after a biology course about contraception, is quite ludicrous.

Likewise worth mentioning is the good soundtrack which contributes a great deal to the quality of the movie with an above-average share of music. Some of the songs, most of them alternative rock, were composed especially for the movie. It is easily imaginable that Charleen, who is often wearing earphones during the movie, would listen to this kind of music (apart from the fact that the musicians are not yet dead).

Last but not least the movie also does not fall short in bringing across some philosophical message, which is, that it is in fact death, which makes life such a valuable good. Heaven can still wait and life can even be fun, Charleen finds out in the end, especially when love is involved ...

If it was not for the weakness, that the movie sometimes gives the impression of living in a too beautiful puppet world, I would rate the movie with the top grade. Deducting this, it is still 9 out of 10 points, because it is definitely excellent entertainment.

First off, Kurt Cobain has very little to do with About A Girl. He gets a passing mention, along with other 27 Club members Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse. Claiming its protagonist Charleen is Cobain's biggest fan in the logline is just a marketing ploy to get people to watch the film – but it doesn't need those tricks. Music does have its small part, with not-too- expensive/recognisable English language rock making much of the soundtrack, though it's a little too twee for grunge. That's not the tone About A Girl is going for.

Charleen, played by Jasna Fritzi Bauer, is a 15 year old girl who attempts suicide to skip the pains of growing up. While she quickly regrets and reforms, she finds getting life to feel normal again more difficult than she imagined. Living in a full house with her mother, little brother, deadbeat dad, kooky grandmother, and her mother's boyfriend who happens to be her schoolteacher – it's a dysfunctional family film. But for someone who's ostensibly depressed, the film shows that Charleen has a large amount of facets to her life.

A depressed person is usually blind to this love that surrounds them. But this is not a film about depression. This is about lifting us free from those cynical thoughts. And it does quite a decent job. There are tragedies and hardships, but above all it's an identifiable feel-good film. We can all admit as teenagers at our most dramatic we considered death to be an easy and quicker way out. Here it's sincere without resorting to cheap sentiment, if sometimes indulging in cheap pleasure.

The heart of the film is the relationship between mother, played by Heike Makatsch, and daughter. There's a compassion and understanding between them that's really refreshing. It's a shame the film tries to stuff itself too much with the relationships between Charleen and her family, her best friend who's her polar opposite, a typical nerd who becomes a love interest, her psychiatrist, and so on.

Some are subversions of their respective archetypes, in particular the best friend once she's developed, but the effort isn't spread to the entire ensemble as many are much lazier clichés. Too many of these fringe relationships add too little, or just don't click in an engaging way. It feels like it's ticking boxes to cover ground. That screen time could have been better used to focus on the mother. It admits, life is hard in the face of mortality, and it adds that the teenage days do matter.

Bauer is a particular highlight in the cast, giving Charleen a key maturity that makes her an engaging character. It's surprising yet unsurprising to learn that she's playing a character 10 years her junior. She has a sardonic wit that could really grind delivered by anyone else but her comic timing is sharp enough to make it work. There are some contrivances in the acting from the cast however, with characters reacting to things just because the script says though. That's more a fault with Mark Monheim's focus and direction.

However, the film has engaging pacing and vibrant photography, including a frequent use of crane work to make it especially cinematic. It comes alive with dynamic Mitty-eque fantasy sequences which may be at an excess but they entertain at least. The montages may be ill- advised as too much drama unfolds silently. About A Girl is a mixed bag, but its honest compassion to teen angst resonates strong enough to overcome its weakest points."

7/10

Read more @ The Awards Circuit (http://www.awardscircuit.com/)

No pun intended - life is never really easy. We may have good times, we may have ups ... but there will also be harder times and the down times or whatever you would call them. It is not always easy to wrap ones head around the negative stuff - and everyone deals differently with stuff. So this is for those who may have had similar thoughts ... who may know someone who deals with stuff like this.

The movie may help understand them or yourself a bit better. Hopefully it will help - no pun intended of course here either. Dramas can be hard to watch of course - and with the theme being quite bleak .. well there still is hope of course ... and we will end with this pun I reckon .. because there always has to be an end, doesn't it?

In this coming of age film you will find an interesting plot at the beginning. 15 year old Charleen tries to commit suicide - with no real reason. Could be an inspiring moment to look behind her life. Director tries it - but by doing so - the film is getting worse and worse. Main point: I really had problems to watch it to the end (I did!) - jsut bescuae the main actor Jasna Fritzi Bauer doesn't fit in her role. I mean: come on, a 25 year old actor plays an 15 year old teenie girl? You see it physically - there's a gap, which Jasna couldn't fill. Her face looks way older than a young teenie face. The way she speaks almost most of the times: way too clever for a girlie that age. I mean - how many girls THAT quick-witted do you know? THAT precocious? Maybe with 18, if you are smart enough - but come on, 15? I really do not accept child or teenie roles so far away from normal behaviour. And in films genereally, you'll find these kind of role misinterpretation way too often. Here, Jasna tries to be 10 years younger, but the concept fails miserably. What a pity, because she can do better!

In addition there are far too many family clichés - the good old granny, her mothers dumb new lover, the father being a useless bungler (of course driving an old Volvo...), then the best girlfriend who suddenly becomes lesbian (??), the psychiatrist is weird, and a completely unbelievable love story with a nerd from her class. It is not surprising that this role was also played by someone over the age of twenty - and how bad he was (IMDB says it was his last film - no wonder!).

I really try to be generous with all kind of films - but here you have one of these many german entertainment films, which fails in all ways.