"Die Auferstehung" or "Das Testament" is a pretty new German television film from summer 2019 as you can see on the picture here on imdb as well and this one runs for 1.5 hours approxiately like the vast majority of German small screen releases. It is based on a novel by Karl-Heinz Ott, apparently the only work from him that got turned into a film and the man in charge of the screenplay was Karl-Heinz Käfer, who has been pretty prolific in recent years, even if not as much as the director here and that is Niki Stein. Still the most known names here are probably to be found in the cast. German film buffs will recognize at least 2 of the actors I'd say, maybe more. For me it was 4. The first is obviously Herbert Knaup, then Joachim Król (even if he looked so different, more like an old Bjarne Mädel), also Dominic Raacke and finally Mathieu Carrière. Yoou can say that they are really introduced one by one here. And their characters are almost all siblings here. So it is a family reunion and these films that feel very much like a stage play and would work very well too at a theater (not a movie theater) have been pretty frequent in recent years. I think Florian David Fitz plays in two of them even, but not this one here. Still the setting is somewhat similar as it is all about the struggles between characters who are in one room/apartment/house from beginning to end. Sadly, I did not really like the outcome here that much. There are some good moment and this film is far from a failure. For example I liked the idea how one character has a key and some of the others are immediately jealous that their father gave him a key, but he didn't give one to them. That is really not because they love their dad dearly, just because there is a last will and testimony to be read and everybody wants as much from the cake as possible. So this is the story at the center of it all. But like I said, there are also weaker moments. The best example is that right after the key inclusion I mentioned Raacke's character stumbles upon an adult film DVD. Oh well, come on. And there's more like two characters arguing loudly about their past when they were young and students and their ambitions and approaches to life.
Or also really the very final plot twist that is pretty much included as a spoiler already in the title and that was totally the worst path they could take honestly. I mean if you want this to matter, then don't name the film like that. Go for "The Testament". It is already unlikely (and unrealistic) enough. At least maybe in the face of the surprise, we could have forgotten the chances. Also the bridge really from the characters assuming early on that he is dead (while he is just sleeping) to them wanting to know about the last will immediately is an exaggerated one. Or that everybody can really immediately get there. Etc. I also felt some characters added nothing, like the younger couple, which is even worse because the cast here was not too many folks at all. Or as much as I hate to say it also Knaup's. That was really bad honestly. He is such a gifted actor and here he was completely wasted. Even early on when it is just him and a female character, he has absolutely no material to shine and it is all about her. So maybe what stays most in the mind about his character is when he is drunk and falls down to the bed. The female character I mentioned was played by Leslie Malton. Maybe she is the most memorable from the gang. It clearly was the writers' attention to make people hate her. She bursts into tears immediately if something is not going her way, but she is really cruel otherwise and mean as we find out when she is talking about the young Hungarian woman who the old man fell in love with. She is probably more scared than anybody that she will not find much consideration in the last will. And like everybody else, she did not care about the old man at all. Carrière's character informs us that literally none of the kids ever really visited him in recent years. As for Malton's character, yes she is memorable, but really only because she is loud and obnoxious and honestly at some point it stops being convincing character writing and it is literally all just the same. I don't think she is a racist though, even if some of her comments sound like that. She is just unstoppable in her greed and also crosses boundaries. The actress looking at her body of work I see many really bad projects honestly, so it is no surprise they picked her for a character that has zero subtlety. She is not a talented actress and I guess that is why I was not familiar with her at all, only heard the name I think. As for the guys though: When you have the four actors I mentioned earlier at your disposal (especially Knaup), then you should be able to come up with a better film than this one here. I think it starts okay and then gets worse and worse, more and more boring and at the end (even if the idea of bringing him back to life was not a good one), it gets a bit better again. When we see the Hungarian woman and the old man hugging, it is for the first time a moment of warmth between two characters and that says it all. This is a film that does not want you to like the other characters. But this moment of affection also tells everybody basically that they don't need to expect a lot of money and as the old man is alive anway, they disappear right away, Raacke's character as the last as he was at least slightly close to his father perhaps. But they will all be back when he dies for real 100%. I did not read the book this is based on, so overall I cannot say if my key problems here lie in the base material or the screenplay. I don't really think the actors did a lot wrong though, it was their lines and actions that were impossible to turn into a quality film. Really a wasted opportunity. With a cast like this that also would have been worth of this being a cinema release, you simply have to deliver better quality. And then maybe more people would have seen it (and rated it on imdb) and theater directors would have considered including this play (with other actors) for their houses. But this way it is lost forever probably because I highly doubt this will be turned into a movie a second time. Maybe it is best this way. Watch something else instead.
Or also really the very final plot twist that is pretty much included as a spoiler already in the title and that was totally the worst path they could take honestly. I mean if you want this to matter, then don't name the film like that. Go for "The Testament". It is already unlikely (and unrealistic) enough. At least maybe in the face of the surprise, we could have forgotten the chances. Also the bridge really from the characters assuming early on that he is dead (while he is just sleeping) to them wanting to know about the last will immediately is an exaggerated one. Or that everybody can really immediately get there. Etc. I also felt some characters added nothing, like the younger couple, which is even worse because the cast here was not too many folks at all. Or as much as I hate to say it also Knaup's. That was really bad honestly. He is such a gifted actor and here he was completely wasted. Even early on when it is just him and a female character, he has absolutely no material to shine and it is all about her. So maybe what stays most in the mind about his character is when he is drunk and falls down to the bed. The female character I mentioned was played by Leslie Malton. Maybe she is the most memorable from the gang. It clearly was the writers' attention to make people hate her. She bursts into tears immediately if something is not going her way, but she is really cruel otherwise and mean as we find out when she is talking about the young Hungarian woman who the old man fell in love with. She is probably more scared than anybody that she will not find much consideration in the last will. And like everybody else, she did not care about the old man at all. Carrière's character informs us that literally none of the kids ever really visited him in recent years. As for Malton's character, yes she is memorable, but really only because she is loud and obnoxious and honestly at some point it stops being convincing character writing and it is literally all just the same. I don't think she is a racist though, even if some of her comments sound like that. She is just unstoppable in her greed and also crosses boundaries. The actress looking at her body of work I see many really bad projects honestly, so it is no surprise they picked her for a character that has zero subtlety. She is not a talented actress and I guess that is why I was not familiar with her at all, only heard the name I think. As for the guys though: When you have the four actors I mentioned earlier at your disposal (especially Knaup), then you should be able to come up with a better film than this one here. I think it starts okay and then gets worse and worse, more and more boring and at the end (even if the idea of bringing him back to life was not a good one), it gets a bit better again. When we see the Hungarian woman and the old man hugging, it is for the first time a moment of warmth between two characters and that says it all. This is a film that does not want you to like the other characters. But this moment of affection also tells everybody basically that they don't need to expect a lot of money and as the old man is alive anway, they disappear right away, Raacke's character as the last as he was at least slightly close to his father perhaps. But they will all be back when he dies for real 100%. I did not read the book this is based on, so overall I cannot say if my key problems here lie in the base material or the screenplay. I don't really think the actors did a lot wrong though, it was their lines and actions that were impossible to turn into a quality film. Really a wasted opportunity. With a cast like this that also would have been worth of this being a cinema release, you simply have to deliver better quality. And then maybe more people would have seen it (and rated it on imdb) and theater directors would have considered including this play (with other actors) for their houses. But this way it is lost forever probably because I highly doubt this will be turned into a movie a second time. Maybe it is best this way. Watch something else instead.
