Julia Becker, tough Elke from the ARD evening show “Hauptstandrevier,“ plays volatile Marie in her directing debut. The young woman is surrounded by a herd of happy families and her long-time partner Sascha also wants to have children. That‘s why the couples sex life is well-planned and not so fun during the fertile days. Luckily there‘s Lukas, Marie‘s lover, who is fun in bed and is easy-going. A small excursion with her affair in a friend‘s mountain cabin in Tirol is meant to divert Marie from all the stress of child planning but Sascha has already come to the cabin instead of being on a business trip. With him: his affair Brigit.

A psychologically sophisticated, funny, or very mean chamber play could start here, because the lifts don‘t run anymore and the explosive foursome are stuck together. But unfortunately the plot doesn‘t go beyond a few bitchy platitudes (Marie to Birgit: “how much do you weigh?“) and some lackluster dialogue. Every character is stuck in their intended external shell. Birgit, aunt-like and conservative in cream tones, is above things and not sexually attractive anymore, while Marie remains the impulsive, indecisive womanchild. Sascha keeps grimly staring and stops all the fun. Boy toy Lukas is a chill, shirtless sterotype. This continues until the lifts run again. The question of whether to have children or not is resolved in a cliche way much like the couple with children versus the singles at the beginning. “If you know one baby, you know them all!“ The comedy about late adulthood that the film wants to be is rather flat and tame.

Susanne Kim

Translation: Elinor Lewy