"Erste Liebe" or "First Love" is a co-production between West Germany, Switzerland and Hungary from 1970, so this one will soon have its 50th anniversary. It is one of the directorial efforts by Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell and he (together with John Gould) he also adapted the Ivan Turgenev novel for the screen here. This was only the second time Switzerland submitted a film for the Foreign Language Oscar and actually this one here managed the nomination, but lost eventually to the Italian entry. I guess the fact that it did get nominated also has a lot to do with Schell's involvement here. He is also an actor in this relatively short German-language film. It only runs for 85 minutes approximately and depicts the first love of the character of Alexander when he falls for a slightly older (but still pretty young) woman, who has all kinds of suitors, some even pretty close to Alexander.
So yeah, I think this started in a pretty decent way and the scenes between the two protagonists were somewhat okay to watch, even if the girl's attraction(?) and the way it was portrayed and depicted did not always ring true. But the longer the film goes, the weaker it got. At some point it juts felt as if it sacrificed all kinds of convincing plot telling and character development because of the artistic impact it was trying so hard to make. Quite disappointing as there was certainly more potential in here. I have not seen the literary work it is based on, so I am not sure who is to blame the most for the outcome here. I just think as a film it wasn't working out at all for the most part and as a consequence I cannot agree with all the awards attention it received. Seriously, German Film Awards? I know you like Schell and so do I, at least as an actor, but come on. There is nothing impressive about this film at all. Watch something else instead.
So yeah, I think this started in a pretty decent way and the scenes between the two protagonists were somewhat okay to watch, even if the girl's attraction(?) and the way it was portrayed and depicted did not always ring true. But the longer the film goes, the weaker it got. At some point it juts felt as if it sacrificed all kinds of convincing plot telling and character development because of the artistic impact it was trying so hard to make. Quite disappointing as there was certainly more potential in here. I have not seen the literary work it is based on, so I am not sure who is to blame the most for the outcome here. I just think as a film it wasn't working out at all for the most part and as a consequence I cannot agree with all the awards attention it received. Seriously, German Film Awards? I know you like Schell and so do I, at least as an actor, but come on. There is nothing impressive about this film at all. Watch something else instead.