Measuring the World (2012) User Reviews

a day in the life of an 18th century scientist

[vkaufmann1 · 7/10 · 31 January 2014]

"I am French! I don't read foreigners." Says Emile in response to Alexander Humboldt's musings on Immanuel Kant. Now, who says German movies aren't funny? This one is and I loved it. Directed by Detlev Buck, the film follows two geniuses of the day, geographer/explorer Alexander Humbolt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Adapted from the best-selling novel by Daniel Kehlmann, we are presented with two independent plot strands. Well, maybe not so much plots as let's see how scientists fared in the 18th century - and that is what gives this film the drama: the how they lived.

Gauss had his adventures at home, in Germany. Humboldt his in the Amazon region. Great actors, lush locations (filmed in Germany, Austria and Ecuador) naturalistic production design, decent cinematography and relayed with situation comedy. You feel the cold, the dirt, the grime, the dampness, the horror of life in the late 1700s.

Don't see it as an attempt to give historical facts but to immerse the viewer in a time we can travel to through the eyes of this movie. I can only repeat: I quite loved it. Well done Buck.

Okay movie, but not really any scientific relevance

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 29 January 2015]

"Die Vermessung der Welt" is written (adapted from Daniel Kehlmann's novel) and directed by Detlev Buck, one of Germany's most notable filmmakers these days and at the same time a very prolific and successful actor himself. Most recently, he worked on two children's films about the little witch Bibi Blocksberg.

Here the topic is slightly more serious though. We find out about the lives, achievements and struggles of notable Germans: explorer Alexander von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. The latter is played by Florian David Fitz, one of Germany's rising stars in recent years. If you are interested in German movies, you may have seen him on the two "Männerherzen" films or "Vincent will Meer". Humboldt is played by Albrecht Schuch (his voice reminded me of Christian Ulmen's) who is not as prolific and known as his counterpart. He is the younger brother from actress Karoline Schuch and has not appeared in theatrical releases since "Die Vermessung der Welt", only in some TV productions. I have to say that I found it a bit random how the movie was about both these men. There seemed to be hardly no connection early on. Obviously their final meeting sitting in prison together makes up for this issue a bit, but it still looks a bit random and maybe two films, one about each would have worked better. However, this does not mean that it was a weak film. I enjoyed it occasionally and it has good small supporting performances from Max Giermann, Katharina Thalbach and mostly Karl Markovics, who is a joy to watch in everything he is in. Matthias Schweighöfer plays a small part as well.

All in all, I felt the dialogs could have been a bit better. However, the costumes were nice and visually it was a good film. A bit style over substance though, even if I liked the way it portrayed Gauss' struggles with how he never got to meet people who were on his level intellectually, which almost drove him into suicide. The Immanuel Kant meeting scene was one of my favorites. Still I believe the topic was interesting enough to be the basis for a much better film than this actually turned out to be in the end. I felt it came a bit short on emotional levels. Still, I would recommend it to those with an interest in German cinema.

It's a long way to the (mountain-) top

[Karl Self · 7/10 · 22 March 2013]

This is based on a successful novel that contrasts the life of two eminent scientists, of the mathematician and founder of numbers theory, CF Gauss and the adventurer and explorer of South America (and the rest of the world) Alexander von Humboldt. They come from the same locale (Brunswick in Germany) and are about the same age, but Gauss rises from poverty whereas Humboldt is privileged. And whereas Gauss doesn't like to leave his office and rarely travels, Humboldt does practically nothing but to travel.

The original novel (which I haven't read) was apparently completely rewritten (by the author himself) for the script. The film is lavish and opulent and bears the characteristic sarcasm of its director, Detlev Buck. The duke of Brunswick, for example, is portrayed as a well- meaning nitwit who can't remotely grasp what young Gauss is on about, whereas Gauss is portrayed as a nerd and an eccentric. The movie is entertaining, but almost a bit too opulent for my taste. As always, I hope that it will inspire its viewers to pick up the biographies.

not so awful

[Kirpianuscus · 13 January 2018]

It is very easy to write than Gauss and von Humboldt are reduced as fictional sketches, first by novel, than by its adaptation. but the film has two virtues - to be a start point for viewer to discover the life of two great scientists and to admire the spirit of period. the basic sin of film - the bizarre use of humour and the not inspired links between the lead characters. sure, it is fiction. sure, the target is real large . but something, after bitter critics, remains. the passion for a cause. the forms of schizoid perspective about life. and the portrait of a world. not the best, far to be the most inspired. but not so awful.

A movie for little minds

[Thom-Peters · 2/10 · 6 June 2013]

"Measuring the World" is based on screenwriter Daniel Kehlmann's eponymous bestselling "biographical" novel, a "Big Bang Theory"-like portrayal of two famous scientists as ridiculous, stupid nerds, and an incredibly ignorant, deeply resentful look at Germany around the year 1800, a time that spawned many of the most famous German poets and philosophers. The movie turned out to be not quite as annoying, but that's not saying a lot.

It does feature some nice settings, costumes and camera work. Therefore its trailer might fool you into expecting something worthwhile. Contentwise it just shows several scenes from the very different lifes of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and Carl Friedrich Gauß (1777-1855).

Humboldt is an aristocrat, occupied with basic research in the fields of geography and biology. Most of the time we see badly thought out scenes from his travels through the Amazon rainforest. Gauß is a natural born genius. He comes from very humble beginnings and manages to become an internationally renowned mathematician. He's only interested in numbers and women, well, mostly women, because numbers don't look that well on film. One is having dangerous adventures in terrae incognitae, the other one sits and thinks. Yet they are both doing science. Isn't that amazing? No. Like apples and oranges they are just different - so what? As this "Parallel Lives"-thing is the main idea of the novel and the movie, both are fundamentally pointless.

Leading man Albrecht Schuch (Humboldt) sometimes doesn't look - and sound! - like a professional actor at all. But the dramatic arts really hit rock bottom when Michael Maertens (Duke) and Max Giermann show up, acting like the worst buffoons ever. It's really hurtful to watch their scenes. This time it's the fault of the director Buck and his low-brow sense of humor. The same applies to the last 20 minutes. Decades later, in 1828, Humboldt and Gauß finally meet, and their thesps deliver an overkill of hammy "old man"-acting, rewarding everyone strong enough to be still watching with an incredible cringe-fest, including urinary incontinence and senile stubbornness bordering sociopathic behavior. Gauß was just 51 years old, Humboldt almost lived to see his 90th birthday, 31 years later. Showing them as frail old crocks in 1828 is just another blatant lie. No, people didn't wither away at the age of 30 as some think, fooled by statistics. Of course, the author makes his Gauß utter some nonsense about statistics, too. It figures.

What's the use of a movie like this? It doesn't give us a story, just fake biographical sketches. It is only very loosely based on historical facts. Its author and its director don't even try to understand the protagonists or to develop a sense of the time depicted. They just mock their ancestors and ridicule men once considered as "great", but today nearly forgotten, parading their self-righteous zeitgeisty attitude. That's poor taste, pathetic. A movie for little minds. ("Bad German Movies"-Review No. 13)

describing in detail all kinds of inadaptability of scientists in ordinary people's society

[yoggwork · 5/10 · 20 February 2019]

It's a very good film, describing in detail all kinds of inadaptability of scientists in ordinary people's society. Unfortunately, Gauss's part is too dull, as if he could only count it back and forth. Humboldt's exploration of primitive nature is much more interesting. After all, it's good to just look at the scenery. Although the director deliberately added a lot of play with his assistant to Humboldt, throwing can not change this situation.

I recommend!

[donnajeanraymond · 10/10 · 9 March 2014]

I read the one scathing review and don't get that at all. I am a Probability and Statistics Professor who loves all history, even fictionalized accounts. I found the movie delightful. It made me want to research the lives of Gauss and Humboldt. It was a beautiful film and it made me want more. That is what I always want for my students! Anyone would see this as a sweet story of contemporaries juxtaposed by birth and passion. Getting a taste of the math/science in such a stunning way, visually... I would think it would make some appreciate the worlds of maths and science, and motivate some to look deeper. Lovely movie! (Sorry, angry German reviewer.)

Relly Really Boring

[mikamschaffer · 2/10 · 16 December 2022]

We watched this garbage in german classes, and it has possibly been one of the worst pieces of cinema I've ever watched.

Terrible settings, inconsistent sound quality, horrible acting and some of the worst green screen I've seen in a long time.

The story of the two scientists of different qualities, gets less important the longer the film goes.

The romantic aspect has been a joke since the first minute and that does not change in the slightest.. Unnecessarily squeezed into the story is also the story you can also find the experiments these two scientists went through.

If you ask me, I cant even tell anymore which genre to fit this into.

Does it want to be a romantic, biopic, comedy, and a drama? Yes!

Is it enough to really tell and clearly put it into one of those? Definitely no!

Two Different Minds, Two Different Ways

[baharuka · 9/10 · 29 November 2014]

Before I watched the movie, I read a review which said this movie fails to reflect scientists as they are, just like Big Bang Theory. I agree about Big Bang Theory (no offense, fans) but I have to disagree about this movie! It captures the minds of the two scientists well: The endless enthusiasm that makes Humboldt travel to the ends of the world, and the love of thinking and math Gauss has...The two share the problem of being different than others surrounding them, and the movie contrasts their personalities and fields, which I liked.

Two scenes affected me especially (don't worry, no major spoilers): The tooth extraction scene of Gauss and what he thinks over it, and when the two men talk about how curiosity stays...Having the mind of a scientist myself, the movie touched me!