A burgoise film about middle class people with burgoise problems. An unhappy marriage, a bored tennis instructor. Is this really what the world needs right now?
It's mostly boring and very, very repetitive. In the typical way of german movies, conflicts are only touched on, but do not break out. Nothing is really spoken out, nothing gets resolved. You could charitably call it "subtle", but I find it rather gutless, bloodless and boring. It may well be that in reality things go down so tame, and yes, in reality most of the time nothing really stark happens in a secure middle class life. But why should I pay admission and sacrifice two hours of my life? I at least want to learn SOMETHING new, have SOME kind of experience or revelation. The only thing I really took away from the movie were superficial things like beautiful landscape shots. And I could look at attractive actors for two hours. What I found most interesting were the interactions between the tennis instructor and the camel farm owner and the policeman. Something like real life shone through in these moments.
Of course, the frustrated tennis teacher who doesn't care about anything is likeable, especially being portrayed by this magificent actor Sam Reilly. After the first third of the movie, you have high hopes for some exciting events unfolding. The music also prepares us for a Hitchcock-style thriller, and the images as well foreshadow something tragic about to happen. But unfortunately, it doesn't happen. You get the feeling that the music was added by the distributor to sell the audience a thriller.
In the end, the movie more or less comes to nothing. Neither the marriage problems are solved, nor does the tennis teacher find meaning in life, nor is the stupid husband punished for his egoistic behaviour. The film leaves the viewer baffled. What was it all about?
I give five stars for beautiful cinematography and precise acting.
