In a scene from the film “Beautiful”, Martina Gedeck plays Frauke Abeck and Joachim Król Wolfgang Abeck. Warner Bros.//Warner Bros./Warner Bros./Warner Bros./Warner Bros. (dpa)
In her third feature film, Karoline Herfurth creates a skilful balance between American pathos, great irony and deeply enchanting moments that is wonderful and simply “beautiful”.
The title conjures up images of classic films such as Frank Capra’s 1947 film Is’t Life Beautiful?. this is a wonderful Christmas treat. “Life is Beautiful” (1997), directed by Roberto Benigni.
It is a tragic comedy that goes to the heart in “Beautiful”, Karoline Herfurth’s third directorial work. Not everything is nice about this work either. It’s five women who gloriously and tragically fall into life’s pitfalls time and time again. “Wonderful” has an impressive cast with Emilia Schüle, Nora Tschirner, Martina Gedeck, Friedrich Mücke and Joachim Król. Herfurth is one of the most important figures in history.
Appearance as the central theme
Sonja, played by Herfurth, is a desperate mother who not only has to deal with her career-obsessed husband (Mücke), but also hates being a mother. Frauke, played by Martina Gedeck, is a woman in her late fifties who wants more out of life than cooking and talking to her elderly husband. Son and daughter have moved out, and the latter is trying to earn a living as a model – a world whose dark side is brutally and honestly dissected by director Herfurth.
The topic of appearance (a little girl once asks: “What does one look like?”), one’s own perception and that of others: this is the fixed star of the film in terms of content, around which the very entertaining stories of the film revolve. Teenage girl Leylа (amazing: Dilara Eylin Ziem) is self-conscious about her looks, but she eventually finds outlet in baseball.
Courage to ugliness
Above all, Tschirner, the fifth woman in this virtuoso choreographed ensemble, is a spectacle: The 40-year-old actress, musician and former presenter, who also took part in Herfurth’s directorial debut “SMS für Dich” in 2016, enchants with her snotty, touching art: you is a single art teacher who not only attracts attention with her shaggy head of hair and a blue Band-Aid
Your elderly, fiery red Golf, on the other hand, fascinates. This also applies to a bold fellow teacher, with whom Tschirner (at first) only has a small relationship. Few local actors are able to show their courage to be ugly and sassy in such a cute and likeable way – without ever straying too far from the fine line between slapstick and seriousness.
The chemistry is right
Tschirner, on the other hand, would probably not be able to fully exploit her potential if she didn’t have such a (meanwhile) experienced director and such likeable and refreshing opponents and teammates in front of the camera in Herfurth: that the chemistry between them is right. The two is something special, the purely professional die Relationships between actresses sometimes seem to transcend, as seen in one of the most beautiful scenes. Is it true that I’m an obnoxious hermit? the tearful art teacher asks her equally disturbed best friend. Tschirner asks desperately. “No, no, you’re just terribly annoying sometimes!” Herfurth hugs her tightly, not playfully.
In moments like these, Kаroline Herfurth can demonstrate her special feeling for sad as well as extremely funny moments in the most beautiful way. Of course, Herfurth lags behind a classic like Capra’s “Isn’t Life Beautiful?”. or Benigni’s award-winning 1997 film “Lа Vità è Bellà”. The plot twist and some criticism of traditional role models and perspectives become too predictable at this point. But there is one thing about the luxurious 131 minutes of cinema that the 37-year-old actress and filmmaker gives us in the middle of the second Corona winter: they are stunning.
Schön, Karoline Herfurth, Nora Tschirner, Friedrich Mücke, Martina Gedeck, Germany 2020, 131 minutes, FSK from 6, FSK from 6
dpa (www.dpa.de), Copyright 2022. All rights reserved
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