Le bonheur d'Emma

I saw this film at a festival in Delhi and was amazed at the inter-mingling of the characters and very linear story-line which was totally intriguing and extremely well shot. I reached a little late for the film (around 5-10 minutes I guess) but after the first couple of minutes of wandering, fully got engrossed in the film. The story is about a man with Pancreatic Cancer, who meets a beautiful village girl, Emma, who lives a rather alone and secluded life - away from the chaos-order of the city.. Well that's we initially suppose, because the truth is that her life is pretty chaotic within herself, and the coming of Max (the male protagonist) brings a refreshing, yet another chaotic change to her life... Confused? You have to watch the film to know what I mean! For instance, her kitchen, which is totally a mess, full of dirt, filth and gory pig blood... So is her room, her farm and her life - full of dirt, filth and dishonestly.

Max on the other hand is a very dull, yet a powerful character. He represents every suffering soul on this plant, in pursuit of happiness.. but in his case he knows he could never, never be happy - he is soon to die because of his disease. He wants to go to Mexico to run away from his life (and probably his inevitable death)... Will he succeed in running away from his fate? Will Emma change for him - her world of chaos and routine? Will she accept Max's life of dullness and disease, giving him space to live in her heart, knowing he is soon to leave this world... Watch the movie to get your answers, while I ponder over mine!

Beautifully filmed, show-don't-tell flick about a man dying of pancreatic cancer and a down-to-earth young woman who takes him into her farmhouse after he wrecks the, well, borrowed Jaguar he wanted to get away in. The situations they get into are by turns absurd, funny and moving, and the end had me sobbing into my handkerchief. Never mind that the way of all flesh is a little predictable. I have rarely seen such difficult subjects treated with such a sure instinct for what really matters, and with such cheer and grace. Yup, I'm a doctor; I see the real-life alternatives, and most of them are nowhere nearly as good. Then again, isn't that what the movie biz is all about? Anyway, I look forward to more from the people who made this one!

Emma is a young woman living on her own on her pig farm. She's been living on her own for a long time and has grown mostly out of touch with the people in her town. Max is a chased city slicker that finds out he's got a terminal form of cancer and that wants to make the best out of the little time that remains him. Together they make the two lead characters in a film that is more or less a modern fairy tale about two people that run into each other on accident and that change each others lives in all possible ways and more.

As the film starts and gets through the necessary bits that introduce the characters it doesn't take long before it turns into a mild comedy. After this initial part it doesn't allow itself to sit back and relax and simply continues at a fairly high pace and as it rolls on it is impossible to NOT love the characters.

On me that was visible as a smile that was etched on my face from the word go. It started as a small one and became wider and wider as the film went on, even though there also was a tear and a gleam of sadness added to it. So, all in all, it's the perfect feel-good film.

9 out of 10 loving pig farmers

City people might find this a raw environment. Pigs and dirt and a somewhat disturbed female farmer meeting another slightly disturbed person with cancer. It ends in love, as you had expected.

It can be discussed whether this really is a comedy or the opposite. You don't laugh much even when you're supposed to. The characters are very square, except for the girl, well performed by Jördis Triebel.

The morality here is a little on kindergarten level and the outcome of it all is rather obvious. A chamber play on the German countryside, which doesn't engage you very much. Comedies are to be taken more seriously.

Having missed out on several other films recently, I was very lucky to have seen this very nice film last weekend. The fact that it is different from the main stream makes more interesting for me. And it is a very well-told story playing in a rather remote area in Germany (there are actually a few). http://us.imdb.com/user/ur1300056/comments has a nice summary, so what I would like to add is that I enjoyed watching the two main actors, Jördis Triebel, a fairly young actress whom I wish lots of more luck, and the more experienced Jürgen Vogel who showed once more why he deserved to be in quite a number of recent films. The supporting characters were good, quite funny in appropriate parts. Overall, I hope that many more people will have the chance to see this film!