A few weeks ago I accidentally stumbled over this movie on Bavarian TV. Because of its dry sense of humour it felt immediately different from the usual German comedies because this movie in its essence is meant to be a comedy despite the fact that it is about the suicide attempt of a teenager.
In my eyes the film's main character Charleen is just adorable. Despite her cynical comments the nice girl inside the rebellious teenager always remains visible, especially when being with her Grandma, who she calls her best friend. The persuasiveness of Charleen's character must also be greatly credited to the excellent playing of Jasna Fritzi Bauer, who has done a great job in creating this witty character half in despair. Quite incredible also that Jasna was already 24 years old, when the movie was made.
At certain moments, however, it felt difficult to understand why Charleen is feeling so desperate and not understood, because the environment and family she is growing up in may not be perfect but is still a caring one. Especially the relationship to her mother seems to be in good order. On the other hand, the chaotic emotional mix of a teenager, who is trying to define herself in a world, that more and more loses its fairy tale character of childhood, comes across very plausible, so that in a certain way the suicide attempt makes sense, especially with someone who has a weakness for anything dead in the first place. In the end it turns out that it was only meant to be a cry for help, as it often is the case.
Next to the main character Charleen the movie offers a good mix of interesting underparts with likewise good acting performances. Some scenes at the psychotherapist, to which Charleen is sent to, are just hilarious.
The movie also convinces for its realistic and witty dialogues, in which sometimes harsh words are spoken out but overall the movie is not over the top rude. It just feels like real world conversations.
Moreover, the movie is full of funny ideas. For instance Charleen's weakness for anything dead is exemplified by the 3 facts that she is an admirer of dead musicians like Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse, that she is collecting self-made Polaroid photos of dead animals found on the street and that she's doing her internship with an undertaker. When sitting in the waiting room of her psychotherapist we can see her imagining how the suicide attempts of the other clients failed because she cannot imagine any other reason why someone would consult a psychotherapist.
Also the class room scene in which Charleen and her best friend Isa remove the condomes from the rubber penises after a biology course about contraception, is quite ludicrous.
Likewise worth mentioning is the good soundtrack which contributes a great deal to the quality of the movie with an above-average share of music. Some of the songs, most of them alternative rock, were composed especially for the movie. It is easily imaginable that Charleen, who is often wearing earphones during the movie, would listen to this kind of music (apart from the fact that the musicians are not yet dead).
Last but not least the movie also does not fall short in bringing across some philosophical message, which is, that it is in fact death, which makes life such a valuable good. Heaven can still wait and life can even be fun, Charleen finds out in the end, especially when love is involved ...
If it was not for the weakness, that the movie sometimes gives the impression of living in a too beautiful puppet world, I would rate the movie with the top grade. Deducting this, it is still 9 out of 10 points, because it is definitely excellent entertainment.
In my eyes the film's main character Charleen is just adorable. Despite her cynical comments the nice girl inside the rebellious teenager always remains visible, especially when being with her Grandma, who she calls her best friend. The persuasiveness of Charleen's character must also be greatly credited to the excellent playing of Jasna Fritzi Bauer, who has done a great job in creating this witty character half in despair. Quite incredible also that Jasna was already 24 years old, when the movie was made.
At certain moments, however, it felt difficult to understand why Charleen is feeling so desperate and not understood, because the environment and family she is growing up in may not be perfect but is still a caring one. Especially the relationship to her mother seems to be in good order. On the other hand, the chaotic emotional mix of a teenager, who is trying to define herself in a world, that more and more loses its fairy tale character of childhood, comes across very plausible, so that in a certain way the suicide attempt makes sense, especially with someone who has a weakness for anything dead in the first place. In the end it turns out that it was only meant to be a cry for help, as it often is the case.
Next to the main character Charleen the movie offers a good mix of interesting underparts with likewise good acting performances. Some scenes at the psychotherapist, to which Charleen is sent to, are just hilarious.
The movie also convinces for its realistic and witty dialogues, in which sometimes harsh words are spoken out but overall the movie is not over the top rude. It just feels like real world conversations.
Moreover, the movie is full of funny ideas. For instance Charleen's weakness for anything dead is exemplified by the 3 facts that she is an admirer of dead musicians like Jimmy Hendrix, Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse, that she is collecting self-made Polaroid photos of dead animals found on the street and that she's doing her internship with an undertaker. When sitting in the waiting room of her psychotherapist we can see her imagining how the suicide attempts of the other clients failed because she cannot imagine any other reason why someone would consult a psychotherapist.
Also the class room scene in which Charleen and her best friend Isa remove the condomes from the rubber penises after a biology course about contraception, is quite ludicrous.
Likewise worth mentioning is the good soundtrack which contributes a great deal to the quality of the movie with an above-average share of music. Some of the songs, most of them alternative rock, were composed especially for the movie. It is easily imaginable that Charleen, who is often wearing earphones during the movie, would listen to this kind of music (apart from the fact that the musicians are not yet dead).
Last but not least the movie also does not fall short in bringing across some philosophical message, which is, that it is in fact death, which makes life such a valuable good. Heaven can still wait and life can even be fun, Charleen finds out in the end, especially when love is involved ...
If it was not for the weakness, that the movie sometimes gives the impression of living in a too beautiful puppet world, I would rate the movie with the top grade. Deducting this, it is still 9 out of 10 points, because it is definitely excellent entertainment.