"Nichts für Feiglinge" is a German television film from 2014, so this one is not that old, but also not really new and if you need a little longer to show up here, it is maybe already over a decade old. This film must not be mistaken for the more known theatrical release "Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge" from two years earlier. The title means "nothing for cowards" as I already stated in the title of my review as well, but I don't think it is a remotely good title honestly because it is such a general statement that could be used really for almost every slightly more dramatic/emotional film and the connection to the story at hand here is as vague as it gets. So this is the first area where they messed up. "They" in this case includes director Michael Rowitz who launched his career back in the 1990s, so when this one here got made, he was already in the industry for almost 20 years, now for 25 years. For that, it is mostly a disappointment, but then again his body of work, even if it is not terribly bad, it also nothing that gets you curious. Same applies to the writers. Claudia Matschulla and Martin Rauhaus both have many projects in their filmographies where you know already without watching that they are terrible and that there was no intention to create something artistic or if there was, then it was doomed from the start because the talent simply wasn't there. Matschulla by the way started as an actress decades earlier, but by 2014, she had already written quite a few screenplays. Rauhaus already started writing screenplays briefly after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. So a lot of experienced in here behind the camera, but it's all quantity over quality and the outcome of these under 1.5 hours are accordingly. But then again, it is ARD Degeto and Theaterkunst GmbH, so what can you expect. Actually, I expected even worse to be honest.
One thing that results in this film being more special than many other ARD small screen releases is the inclusion of Frederick Lau. He is the man you see on the left on the photo and the male lead. Back then, he was already easily among the most famous actors from his age group here in my country, but Victoria one year later really turned him into an even bigger star. Despite his pretty young age. So with Victoria in his body of work already, he may have been too big for a film like this, but as it was yet to happen, we see him here in this Degeto movie. I am a bit undecided on him. Sometimes I like him, sometimes not so much. But a great deal of range and versatility I don't see with him as I feel he always has a tendency to plays the same characters really. The woman on the left is Anna Brüggemann. Her I like, but I won't even deny that has to do with her looks maybe more than with her talent. I do think she could be turning into a somewhat decent filmmaker and writer herself now. She seems to have ambitions there. In this film here, she is not the female lead by the way, so the poster is a bit misleading, but probably the very biggest supporting player. The female lead is Hannelore Hoger. Cannot go too easy on her. She is just like Senta Berger, Iris Berben, Hannelore Elsner (maybe not as good) and Jutta Speidel (maybe not as bad) one of the more known and more overrated elderly performers when it comes to German film. I don't see much talent with her. Good news is she does not make the script really worse, but also she is not up to the challenge of turning this story about an elderly woman struggling with dementia into a truly touching story. It seems more like Lau's movie anyway than hers, even if the two are connected so closely. Mewes, Kampwirth and some of the others you may have come across in other films, but I also want to mention Burak Yigit here, even if there is almost nothing to his role, but he also starred next to Lau in UMMAH, so these two seem to be buddies. That's a better film by the way. Oh ad Sandra Borgmann deserves a mention too, after all she already played a relatively meaningul character in an Oscar-nominated film, even if it's been a long time.
In terms of plot and story here, there is some positive, but more negative. This is definitely not "Amour" quality-wise if we are talking films with a similar subject. The more embarrassing moments are really always when the film tries to be daring and spectacular, like the scene when the old woman drives off with the pizza car and is there near the water where we are worried she might jump into and drown. Luckily, they did not keep up for too long with this idea and Lau's character is quickly there to take her to safety. But this was one moment with which the film really might have needed more subtlety. Same applies basically to the arguments between the two people you see on the poster. They tried to connect their relationship partially to the man's relationship with his grandma, but it's not working out credibly and felt mostly for the sake of it how it got elaborated on here. So the film definitely could have needed some more subtlety all along, but this is something that always applies to ARD Degeto releases. The only somewhat non-subtle scene was the one with the feces in the bathtub. I mean this happens when you have people in our apartment that are struggling with dementia, even if it's an extreme example. I still liked how they were so open about it. Nonetheless, this also got messed up on several occasions because it felt difficult to believe that the old woman would not only remember this moment, but also mention it again with how embarrassed she was about all that. Or the way Yigit's character is elaborated on in there. He initially does not even want the old woman there to live with them, but then he even volunteers to clean the bathtub. This seemed way too much of a character transformation within minutes, also how the old woman sits there on the sofa with these young guys and they wath a movie or something before she falls asleep.
The only reason why I would not declare this film a failure was some of the okay dialogue writing here and there. What examples can I think of? Well, one brief inclusion would be when Hoger's character says something that only because she is old, that does not mean she is not as much keen on living as the young fellas in this film. A bit on the touching side. Or also how she says on one occasion that the older one gets, the more and more everything vanishes one once loved. Sad, but true. Or the hug. The talk by people working at retirement homes may have felt slightly written with how they elaborate on the fact that there is just not enough support for their field of profession, but it's true and deserves to be included. And I liked the little voiceover part near the end when we find out Hoger's character goes on a little bike ride and the last person who saw her alive was the milkman. This sequence felt somewhat memorable and effortlessly touching, also with the light and music there, which surprised me a bit because otherwise the music was not good. No big sob story about the elderly woman's death and it's still sad and sweet at the same time. Sadly, there were also more than just a few examples of poor dialogue writing. Take the moment Lau's character is at his grandfather's grave when the old woman is missing. Characters go missing so often in these films, but mostly it's kids, but an occasionally helpless older woman surely can also be used for that. As for the graveside moment, it was just not too good how she appeared immediately when the man was done with his little speech there and she says something like that his wish got fulfilled and there she is. The ideas linked to the protagonists' jobs were also not too creative. The pizza business with the two flatmates got almost no elaboration and could have been left out completely. The male protagonist's ambitions in terms of music felt more significant, but the singing scene was extremely weak already and the ending felt all unauthentic and for the sake of it. Still, the elderly woman sitting there as she is always with him was okay. Nonetheless, this was another example with which Degeto as always went incredibly over the top with its happy ending.
Approaching the end of my review now, but it can for example also be said that there were scenes with which I am not too sure (yet) if I liked them. One would be when they are jumping back and forth from the man's home where he is having a fun time to the old woman's new home where she is crying hard because she just doesn't like the place. And it's not just the food. I also said that the romance story here did not impress me too much. Their first meeting was already a bit on the cringeworthy side, not because of the age difference, but the entire setting, but you can also add that Degeto is often openly anti-male. Not so much with this film here, but the way Brüggemann's character is frequently depicted as the voice of reason and that is really all to her character as we know literally nothing about her at all, feel unevolved. Indirectly connected to that, another moment I found annoying was when Hoger's character tells her grandson to fix his relationship, even if admittedly Lau's recation there was almost even worse than the quote. So overall, it can be said about this one that by Degeto standards, this is above-average in terms of the quality. By general standards, the level is still considerably too low for a positive recommendation. In fact, it was much closer to failure territory too at times than to said positive recommendation. I could still mention a few more scenes that are telling here, mostly in a negative sense, but I will leave it at that. Besides, the weak title and pretty empty photo speak for themselves. This is a film you'd rather want to skip unless you are a huge Lau fan. I give it a thumbs-down without any hesitation. I think there was definitely the potential for a much better film in here and they came painfully short most of the time.
One thing that results in this film being more special than many other ARD small screen releases is the inclusion of Frederick Lau. He is the man you see on the left on the photo and the male lead. Back then, he was already easily among the most famous actors from his age group here in my country, but Victoria one year later really turned him into an even bigger star. Despite his pretty young age. So with Victoria in his body of work already, he may have been too big for a film like this, but as it was yet to happen, we see him here in this Degeto movie. I am a bit undecided on him. Sometimes I like him, sometimes not so much. But a great deal of range and versatility I don't see with him as I feel he always has a tendency to plays the same characters really. The woman on the left is Anna Brüggemann. Her I like, but I won't even deny that has to do with her looks maybe more than with her talent. I do think she could be turning into a somewhat decent filmmaker and writer herself now. She seems to have ambitions there. In this film here, she is not the female lead by the way, so the poster is a bit misleading, but probably the very biggest supporting player. The female lead is Hannelore Hoger. Cannot go too easy on her. She is just like Senta Berger, Iris Berben, Hannelore Elsner (maybe not as good) and Jutta Speidel (maybe not as bad) one of the more known and more overrated elderly performers when it comes to German film. I don't see much talent with her. Good news is she does not make the script really worse, but also she is not up to the challenge of turning this story about an elderly woman struggling with dementia into a truly touching story. It seems more like Lau's movie anyway than hers, even if the two are connected so closely. Mewes, Kampwirth and some of the others you may have come across in other films, but I also want to mention Burak Yigit here, even if there is almost nothing to his role, but he also starred next to Lau in UMMAH, so these two seem to be buddies. That's a better film by the way. Oh ad Sandra Borgmann deserves a mention too, after all she already played a relatively meaningul character in an Oscar-nominated film, even if it's been a long time.
In terms of plot and story here, there is some positive, but more negative. This is definitely not "Amour" quality-wise if we are talking films with a similar subject. The more embarrassing moments are really always when the film tries to be daring and spectacular, like the scene when the old woman drives off with the pizza car and is there near the water where we are worried she might jump into and drown. Luckily, they did not keep up for too long with this idea and Lau's character is quickly there to take her to safety. But this was one moment with which the film really might have needed more subtlety. Same applies basically to the arguments between the two people you see on the poster. They tried to connect their relationship partially to the man's relationship with his grandma, but it's not working out credibly and felt mostly for the sake of it how it got elaborated on here. So the film definitely could have needed some more subtlety all along, but this is something that always applies to ARD Degeto releases. The only somewhat non-subtle scene was the one with the feces in the bathtub. I mean this happens when you have people in our apartment that are struggling with dementia, even if it's an extreme example. I still liked how they were so open about it. Nonetheless, this also got messed up on several occasions because it felt difficult to believe that the old woman would not only remember this moment, but also mention it again with how embarrassed she was about all that. Or the way Yigit's character is elaborated on in there. He initially does not even want the old woman there to live with them, but then he even volunteers to clean the bathtub. This seemed way too much of a character transformation within minutes, also how the old woman sits there on the sofa with these young guys and they wath a movie or something before she falls asleep.
The only reason why I would not declare this film a failure was some of the okay dialogue writing here and there. What examples can I think of? Well, one brief inclusion would be when Hoger's character says something that only because she is old, that does not mean she is not as much keen on living as the young fellas in this film. A bit on the touching side. Or also how she says on one occasion that the older one gets, the more and more everything vanishes one once loved. Sad, but true. Or the hug. The talk by people working at retirement homes may have felt slightly written with how they elaborate on the fact that there is just not enough support for their field of profession, but it's true and deserves to be included. And I liked the little voiceover part near the end when we find out Hoger's character goes on a little bike ride and the last person who saw her alive was the milkman. This sequence felt somewhat memorable and effortlessly touching, also with the light and music there, which surprised me a bit because otherwise the music was not good. No big sob story about the elderly woman's death and it's still sad and sweet at the same time. Sadly, there were also more than just a few examples of poor dialogue writing. Take the moment Lau's character is at his grandfather's grave when the old woman is missing. Characters go missing so often in these films, but mostly it's kids, but an occasionally helpless older woman surely can also be used for that. As for the graveside moment, it was just not too good how she appeared immediately when the man was done with his little speech there and she says something like that his wish got fulfilled and there she is. The ideas linked to the protagonists' jobs were also not too creative. The pizza business with the two flatmates got almost no elaboration and could have been left out completely. The male protagonist's ambitions in terms of music felt more significant, but the singing scene was extremely weak already and the ending felt all unauthentic and for the sake of it. Still, the elderly woman sitting there as she is always with him was okay. Nonetheless, this was another example with which Degeto as always went incredibly over the top with its happy ending.
Approaching the end of my review now, but it can for example also be said that there were scenes with which I am not too sure (yet) if I liked them. One would be when they are jumping back and forth from the man's home where he is having a fun time to the old woman's new home where she is crying hard because she just doesn't like the place. And it's not just the food. I also said that the romance story here did not impress me too much. Their first meeting was already a bit on the cringeworthy side, not because of the age difference, but the entire setting, but you can also add that Degeto is often openly anti-male. Not so much with this film here, but the way Brüggemann's character is frequently depicted as the voice of reason and that is really all to her character as we know literally nothing about her at all, feel unevolved. Indirectly connected to that, another moment I found annoying was when Hoger's character tells her grandson to fix his relationship, even if admittedly Lau's recation there was almost even worse than the quote. So overall, it can be said about this one that by Degeto standards, this is above-average in terms of the quality. By general standards, the level is still considerably too low for a positive recommendation. In fact, it was much closer to failure territory too at times than to said positive recommendation. I could still mention a few more scenes that are telling here, mostly in a negative sense, but I will leave it at that. Besides, the weak title and pretty empty photo speak for themselves. This is a film you'd rather want to skip unless you are a huge Lau fan. I give it a thumbs-down without any hesitation. I think there was definitely the potential for a much better film in here and they came painfully short most of the time.
