The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin is unique. He had no scholars or followers. But nobody disputes his brilliance today. This movie gives an insight into the middle years of Hölderlin's life. His unfulfilled and forbidden love for a rich merchant's wife, his struggle for poetic and political truth. The Napoleonic Wars form the background for this scenery. The film takes its time and develops its story slowly and carefully. Excerpts from Hölderlin's works and contemporary classical music are skilfully incorporated again and again. The actors are terrific, especially Ulrich Mühe as Hölderlin, the poet that lived the second half of his live in mental illness. A recommendation!
2 Reviews
Unfortunately never really got me engaged
Horst_In_Translation18 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
"Hälfte des Lebens", which means literally translated "Half of one's life", is an East German movie from 1985, so this one had its 35th anniversary last year and this also means that it was released when I was not even one year old. Of course, this should not be mistaken for the much more recent films "Mein halbes Leben" and "Ein halbes Leben" that sound pretty similar, but could not be any more different in terms of the story and characters. And cast and crew of course too. The reason that this film is not entirely forgotten and still here and there on national television (as it was last night) is later German actor Ulrich Mühe that most people (including myself) obviously know from his role as the main character in the Oscar-winning "Das Leben der Anderen". In this film here that runs for slightly over 90 minutes, you can see what he did 20 years earlier when there were actually still two German countries. It is also interesting that the female protagonist is played by Jenny Gröllmann as Gröllman and Mühe were spouses in real life at some point and maybe this is the film that started it. However, it must be said that this is one of Gröllmann's most known films and one of Mühe's least seen, which is pretty telling for sure. The director is Hermann Zschoche (really tough to prounounce) and he was certainly among the more successful East German filmmakers back in the day and also he kept working after 1990, which is something really not too many did. The fact that he is retired now has mostly to do with his age as the 90 is moving closer. But unlike the two key actors, who died way too early, he is still with us. Same applies to writer Christa Kozik, who is also still with us. Things do not llook equally good with the cast. Michael Gwisdek, a key supporting player, died not too long ago, but at least reached a relatively old age and Rolf Hoppe reached a really old age too and he was basically the epitome of a GDR actor. Unreal how many films he has been a part of.
Now, the title does not really imply that, but this film is about the maybe most crucial time in poet Johann Friedrich Hölderlin's life. Major focus there is on his romance with the ill-fated Susette Gontard, even more ill-fated than Gröllmann, the actress who portrays here. So longing, love and jealousy are key subjects here. There are also references about the political climate back then, but this is just a minor plot and basically tells us a bit about the background. The focus is clearly all the time on the love that could not be between the two main characters. I mean there is nothing really wrong with this film, but for me personally it was always on a level where I did not feel as if I was curious what could happen next. Mühe (and Gwisdek to a smaller extent) sometimes reminded me indeed a bit of Brühl (the ü is another coincidence) and Diehl and other wild young German. The scene with Brühl that stayed mostly in the mind was the fencing perhaps when he shows the little boy what he is cpaable of. The first signs of affection between the two lovebirds are also memorable. I am talking about the kiss. The film does not end with Susette's death, but goes on a little bit and actually there are massive jumps in time even as Mühe's character looks much older all of a sudden. He struggles a lot, also with the law and even has to endure torture. He also faces severe hallucinations which are of course closely linked to his desire and his loss.
The film's best aspects are probably the visual production values. The (aging) makeup I just mentioned already, but also in terms of sets, art direction and costumes, maybe even cinematography, this was not a disappointing watch by any means. But it can also not make up for the story that did drag a bit here and there and I think the film could (or even should have stayed under the 1.5-hour mark. There was not that much happening, which is not necessarily a negative criticism, but it also needed better character development then to make up for this lack of action. And it did not have such. On the contrary, it felt more shallow than I liked on several occasions. The title also really only makes sense in terms of what we see before the closing credits. There we find out that the film ends when the first half of Hölderlin's life is over. I mean that is okay, but it sound wy smarter than it really is and eventually a bit on the pretentious side, especially because the title is also incorrect from the perspective that it does not start with Hölderlin's birth or childhood. It starts when he is already a grown men, albeit a young one. Mühe is easy to identify, but with Gwisdek I was not entirely sure at first before I saw his name in the cast. Kinda funny his son Robert is also an established and successful actor now and he was basically a toddler back then. Okay, one year older than myself.
You could see kids in this film on many occasions, but none of them really have great impact on the story and plot. They are basically just there to emphasize the adult protagonists and their actions you could say. One example would be the wild fencing moment in which Mühe's character really lets loose. I guess it is fairly safe to say that from what you saw here you would never think Mühe could be Hauptmann Wiesler 20 years later, maybe also because Mühe looks much younger here than he was, especially int he early stages of the movie, but this also obviously does not mean that Mühe was one of the weaker, let alone worst, aspects from this film. On the contrary, he tried his best, but I'm pretty sure almost nobody really could have turned this screenplay into an exciting watch. The film once again like so many GDR movies, even if the German Reunification was only half a decade away, struggled with its bleakness and it all feels so void of emotions at times, which is pretty absurd because there is a great deal of emotions included here. I give the outcome a thumbs-down. Even if you like Mühe as much as I do and with him being visible here from beginning to end without any greater interruptions, this is never a rewarding watch. Skip.
Now, the title does not really imply that, but this film is about the maybe most crucial time in poet Johann Friedrich Hölderlin's life. Major focus there is on his romance with the ill-fated Susette Gontard, even more ill-fated than Gröllmann, the actress who portrays here. So longing, love and jealousy are key subjects here. There are also references about the political climate back then, but this is just a minor plot and basically tells us a bit about the background. The focus is clearly all the time on the love that could not be between the two main characters. I mean there is nothing really wrong with this film, but for me personally it was always on a level where I did not feel as if I was curious what could happen next. Mühe (and Gwisdek to a smaller extent) sometimes reminded me indeed a bit of Brühl (the ü is another coincidence) and Diehl and other wild young German. The scene with Brühl that stayed mostly in the mind was the fencing perhaps when he shows the little boy what he is cpaable of. The first signs of affection between the two lovebirds are also memorable. I am talking about the kiss. The film does not end with Susette's death, but goes on a little bit and actually there are massive jumps in time even as Mühe's character looks much older all of a sudden. He struggles a lot, also with the law and even has to endure torture. He also faces severe hallucinations which are of course closely linked to his desire and his loss.
The film's best aspects are probably the visual production values. The (aging) makeup I just mentioned already, but also in terms of sets, art direction and costumes, maybe even cinematography, this was not a disappointing watch by any means. But it can also not make up for the story that did drag a bit here and there and I think the film could (or even should have stayed under the 1.5-hour mark. There was not that much happening, which is not necessarily a negative criticism, but it also needed better character development then to make up for this lack of action. And it did not have such. On the contrary, it felt more shallow than I liked on several occasions. The title also really only makes sense in terms of what we see before the closing credits. There we find out that the film ends when the first half of Hölderlin's life is over. I mean that is okay, but it sound wy smarter than it really is and eventually a bit on the pretentious side, especially because the title is also incorrect from the perspective that it does not start with Hölderlin's birth or childhood. It starts when he is already a grown men, albeit a young one. Mühe is easy to identify, but with Gwisdek I was not entirely sure at first before I saw his name in the cast. Kinda funny his son Robert is also an established and successful actor now and he was basically a toddler back then. Okay, one year older than myself.
You could see kids in this film on many occasions, but none of them really have great impact on the story and plot. They are basically just there to emphasize the adult protagonists and their actions you could say. One example would be the wild fencing moment in which Mühe's character really lets loose. I guess it is fairly safe to say that from what you saw here you would never think Mühe could be Hauptmann Wiesler 20 years later, maybe also because Mühe looks much younger here than he was, especially int he early stages of the movie, but this also obviously does not mean that Mühe was one of the weaker, let alone worst, aspects from this film. On the contrary, he tried his best, but I'm pretty sure almost nobody really could have turned this screenplay into an exciting watch. The film once again like so many GDR movies, even if the German Reunification was only half a decade away, struggled with its bleakness and it all feels so void of emotions at times, which is pretty absurd because there is a great deal of emotions included here. I give the outcome a thumbs-down. Even if you like Mühe as much as I do and with him being visible here from beginning to end without any greater interruptions, this is never a rewarding watch. Skip.
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