This is a 90-minute television movie from 3.5 years ago. The main character, an artist whose mother just died is played by Maria Simon ("Goodbye Lenin!"). All the people she meets in the village are somewhat strange and her boyfriend who just will not let his wife does not help (her) much either. The core story of the movie is crime-related about two girls who disappeared and it seems they have been killed. Of course, Simon's character meets the killer quickly and her own life is in danger. Till the very end, it was unclear if Kroetz' character was the evil guy or if he was just strange and lonely looking for some company, for example when he mentioned his party cellar. I do not understand why he did not attack her already earlier in the film when she became unconscious. The ending left me hoping for more in terms of dramatic intensity. Instead, flashbacks made it actually confusing to watch.
The film's writer and director both do not have the most prolific body of work, so the real heart and soul of the film is Kroetz's performance. He worked with Fassbinder already many decades ago and succeeds in creating a unique character here. At times, I believed Simon's character would be the girl in the swamp land (movie title), but I was wrong. The love story with her boyfriend added nothing for me really. Very much forgettable and downright bad at times, for example when he says now he has to find out something too before they have sex. Like from a bad romantic movie. You could never be sure who is involved in the whole story when the cop all of a sudden defends Kroetz' character, but it turns out he is right, at least partially when one of the missing girls reappears. This film had quite a couple flaws. First of all the altered voice of Kroetz' character was pretty cringeworthy. I don't know what they were thinking. But the worst was possibly when she tried to trick him by pretending to be his girl near the end. This so did not fir her character in my opinion. It was pretty bad. She was severely emotionally damaged at that point already and yet we are supposed to believe she acts like s smart psychologist and plays another role perfectly all of a sudden. Nope. Too much wrong with this film for me to recommend it.
The film's writer and director both do not have the most prolific body of work, so the real heart and soul of the film is Kroetz's performance. He worked with Fassbinder already many decades ago and succeeds in creating a unique character here. At times, I believed Simon's character would be the girl in the swamp land (movie title), but I was wrong. The love story with her boyfriend added nothing for me really. Very much forgettable and downright bad at times, for example when he says now he has to find out something too before they have sex. Like from a bad romantic movie. You could never be sure who is involved in the whole story when the cop all of a sudden defends Kroetz' character, but it turns out he is right, at least partially when one of the missing girls reappears. This film had quite a couple flaws. First of all the altered voice of Kroetz' character was pretty cringeworthy. I don't know what they were thinking. But the worst was possibly when she tried to trick him by pretending to be his girl near the end. This so did not fir her character in my opinion. It was pretty bad. She was severely emotionally damaged at that point already and yet we are supposed to believe she acts like s smart psychologist and plays another role perfectly all of a sudden. Nope. Too much wrong with this film for me to recommend it.
