User reviews

Three different sisters, Iris, Anne and Marianne, get together to celebrate the birthday of their alcoholic mother Silvia (Christine Schorn). Iris (Corinna Harfouch) is the responsible one who has chosen to stay with the mother and look after her, leaving herself frustrated and uptight. Anne (Dagmar Manzel), an impulsive and carefree singer, describes herself the black sheep of the family, while the youngest sister Marianne (Kirsten Block) has been married and lives near the mother's home with her unemployed husband Martin (Robert Gallinowski) and son Tobi. Iris has created a tight schedule for the celebrations, but of course nothing seems to go according to the plan: the sisters' father shows up several days too early, the mother refuses to cooperate, Anne and Martin are getting along a little too well...

The characters are fairly interesting and the actors do a good job portraying them. It's nice to see the buried emotions come out when circumstances get tough; I actually cared about what would happen to the characters, but the tragic ending comes across as quite abrupt. This is probably intentional though, as life doesn't always go according to plans (a major theme in the film), but perhaps a longer epilogue could have been utilized to offer more closure. Even so, the dramedy works mostly fine as it is now and some of the scenery shots look very beautiful. If complicated mother-daughter and sister-sister relationships sound interesting to you, I can safely recommend watching the film.

Three middle-aged sisters come together to celebrate their headstrong and often demanding mother (played by Christine Schorn). Iris (Corinna Harfouch) has chosen to live at home and take care of mom, while the happily married, and naive Marianne (Kirsten Block) lives just down the hill with her husband and son. The third sister is Anne (Dagmar Manzel), and free-spirited woman who has made a living as a singer but is seeing that life reaching its twilight. All aspects of the impending birthday celebration are carefully planned, but how often do things really go according to plan? To the best of my knowledge, "Frei Nach Plan" never received a U.S. theatrical release, and that's a shame because this film deserves more attention that it has received. The four main actresses represent some of the top talent in Germany, and they are all excellent here. The story is funny and sad; sometimes shifting quickly from one to the other. The cinematography is excellent, and the music matches the action well.

I really believe that the reason this film is not better known is the fact that it is about middle-aged women and not young hotties. If you are looking for an action film with lots of explosions and gore, this is not the film for you, but if you like good acting and adult situations, then I can recommend "Frei Nach Plan."