Les Soeurs Bien-aimées

What makes this film so profound is its genuine literary quality(rarely found in period drama films); masterful and artistic portrayal. Background score haunts soul with its mellow and beauty. This masterpiece gives rich and profound experience to audience with its intellectual, complex and poetic tone.

The film is based on the life of the German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) and upon his long relationships with two sisters, Caroline and Charlotte von Lengefeld. This film won't focus on Schiller's relationship with Goethe, as some people may expect, since they are such giants in German literature and history.

There are two cuts of the movie available, shorter cinema version and the Directors cut. I recommend longer version of 138 mins to experience true substance of the film.

The film was nominated for the Golden Bear Award at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, and had its premiere at the festival. It was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

Two cuts of the movie that is. There is the shorter cinema version and the Directors cut, which obviously is longer. And therefor more conclusive, which also makes more sense than. If you only watched the shorter version you probably won't get that. Not that this means it's a sure thing you will like the longer version.

One thing is for sure, there went a lot of thought into the design(s) of the movie. Again you might not like what you see, but the effort is there. Also our male lead has a way of speaking that fits more with a period piece like this than contemporary cinema. If you see it favorable you'll call it sophisticated. Acting in general is good, though not up to par with things Natalie Portman did of course. Still a refreshing look (with some artistic freedom/choices) back at time/history

This is a very intellectual, very complex movie. I had expected a movie more focused on Schiller's relationship with Goethe since they are such giants in German literature and history, but the movie focuses on the 3 way loving relationship between Schiller, his wife and his sister in law.

I left the movie wondering how much of the movie was fact and how much was conjecture. The expert opinion is that the events in the movie could have happened, and many of them likely did. All of the historical context is correct. It is also a fact that Schiller's sister in law wrote Shiller's biography, which would confirm the deep feelings between Schiller and his sister in law that is portrayed in the movie. Highly recommended.

Median. A novel based on the love triangle involving the German writer Friedrich Schiller. I found the film long (almost 3 hours long) and, at one point, tiring. It's worth as knowledge about this love affair of the writer I wasn't aware of. I believe that 6 perfectly reflects the rating of this film. I like films set in the classical period, specifically in the second half of the eighteenth century. Schiller is a contemporary of Mozart and Beethoven, and during the execution of the film, listening to the soundtrack, this detail reminded me of the two composers.

A failed love affair with an idea. Although the casting of the three principle parts was perfect, the personalities alone could not sustain this film. The writing was all over the place. The voice over narration had no identity and seemed a bad substitution for good editing and for writing scenes that would speak for themselves. The cinematography was beautiful, as were the venues which were chosen from Schiller's life. In my opinion, Dominik Graf feel in love with a fantasy, a faint impression (from one letter) of a relationship that is not supported by literary or historical facts, which he tried to conjure up from an illusion but which never really took form. I understand there is a shorter version of this (I watched the three hour director's cut on DVD) but it really was a long, hot mess. I give this film a 4 (poor) out of 10. {Period Romantic Drama}