"Das bisschen Haushalt" is a German television film from 2003, so this one is getting close to its 20th anniversary. The title here is a reference to a fairly famous old song by a female singer who sings about how doing all the housework is nothing special, but only according to her husband, who does not really known how much work it is. Not a great title choice because the song is a bit of a classic for a reason and this film is the exact opposite. Still a better choice than the alternate title here "Wer glaubt denn heute noch an Liebe..." that is really as basic as it gets and could be used for a million movies and also better than the international title "Cleaning Up". The writer and director here is Sharon von Wietersheim (unusual for a German small screen release that she is in charge of both jobs) and looking at the (lack of) quality here and also her other films that are also almost all not good (gently-speaking) I am truly surprised she is still working on new projects today. Bad choice to employ her. The cast includes a handful of familiar faces that my fellow German film buffs could very well recognize. One example is lead actress Valerie Niehaus. She starred in many of these low-quality cheesy unrealistic romance movies I believe. She is pretty attractive, I won't deny that, but a good actress she is not, probably not even a mediocre one. Same is true for Tim Bergmann, who plays her love interest here, potential love interest and he is an even worse actor. Gideon Burkhard is slightly better and here and there he can at least lift the film from horrible to weak, but his character is also too poorly written to make a positive impact and apart from that, he is also out of the movie for a long time in the middle. And the last one I want to mention is Peter Sodann. He is just a minor supporting actor here, but that is alright because he may have a likable presence as always, but a good actor he isn't either. This is basically true about everybody else here. Kinda tough to say something negative about Billie Zöckler here in the face of her recent death, but I will: The scenes with her were not good either and I found her voice especially annoying.
However, it must also say that everything about her was so badly written that it was impossible to stomach. It already starts at the unemployment agency and her sorceress costume. Let me say that I am far from a fan of this particular agency due to experienced I've made with them in the past, but the way they are depicted here and with that i mean this one female employee is completely ridiculous and has nothing to do with reality. I wish the agency could have sued the makers of this movie honestly. It is almost defamation I'd say. So this is just one moment where you see that this film has nothing to do with reality. Another example would be the business the two women start that felt so fake and scripted. What was even worse, however, was how Niehaus' character got the idea to do so, namely when she takes care of a friend's household on evening and does a formidable job despite all hell breaking loose there. This sequence also stayed especially in my mind because the actress who palyed the friend was the orst actress with her line delivery that I have seen in quite a while. And I have seen many. Embarrassing stuff. She manages effortlessly to make the already cringeworthy dialogue writing seem even worse and that is almost an impossible achievement. Obviously, there are many many moments of really poor writing, especially when it comes to the dialogue here. I could mention 50 examples, but I will just stay with one. Or three I should say, namely the verbal reactions of Bergmann's character, the old lady and a boy talking about knives (so fake!) when all of them find out that Niehaus' character will go to New York for several months. Reallly difficult to take as a viewer. I was not sure if I should cry or laugh while watching this film. I actually laughed on some occasions here because the writing was so bad that it was unintentionally funny again. And the annoying soundtrack did the rest. It showed that the film clearly took itself seriously as if the writer and director (and maybe the cast too) here genuinely thought they came up with a convincing story and high-quality character study. The opposite is the case. But as much as they messed up the talking, they were just as bad with the actions. The protagonist's change in mind from not leaving to actually leaving felt entirely unrealistic. Not just how Niehaus portrayed it, most of all how it was written. Or let's take the moment when Bergmann's character waits outside for her just in case she decides to stay in Germany. Oh how cute and romantic! And what a self-confident woman Niehaus plays here with dedication and grace, right? Mildred Pierce level! (irony off) The easily entertained love it I'm sure. Then everything linked to the business early on. I already mentioned parts of it. So no matter if you take a look at the core story or the subplots, failure is everywhere in this movie. Highly, highly not recommended. What we have here is a big mess that is even too bad to be shown on german afternoon television just like it is today. Please don't mistake this film for a powerful take on a woman fighting for what she believes in. It's no such thing by any means.
However, it must also say that everything about her was so badly written that it was impossible to stomach. It already starts at the unemployment agency and her sorceress costume. Let me say that I am far from a fan of this particular agency due to experienced I've made with them in the past, but the way they are depicted here and with that i mean this one female employee is completely ridiculous and has nothing to do with reality. I wish the agency could have sued the makers of this movie honestly. It is almost defamation I'd say. So this is just one moment where you see that this film has nothing to do with reality. Another example would be the business the two women start that felt so fake and scripted. What was even worse, however, was how Niehaus' character got the idea to do so, namely when she takes care of a friend's household on evening and does a formidable job despite all hell breaking loose there. This sequence also stayed especially in my mind because the actress who palyed the friend was the orst actress with her line delivery that I have seen in quite a while. And I have seen many. Embarrassing stuff. She manages effortlessly to make the already cringeworthy dialogue writing seem even worse and that is almost an impossible achievement. Obviously, there are many many moments of really poor writing, especially when it comes to the dialogue here. I could mention 50 examples, but I will just stay with one. Or three I should say, namely the verbal reactions of Bergmann's character, the old lady and a boy talking about knives (so fake!) when all of them find out that Niehaus' character will go to New York for several months. Reallly difficult to take as a viewer. I was not sure if I should cry or laugh while watching this film. I actually laughed on some occasions here because the writing was so bad that it was unintentionally funny again. And the annoying soundtrack did the rest. It showed that the film clearly took itself seriously as if the writer and director (and maybe the cast too) here genuinely thought they came up with a convincing story and high-quality character study. The opposite is the case. But as much as they messed up the talking, they were just as bad with the actions. The protagonist's change in mind from not leaving to actually leaving felt entirely unrealistic. Not just how Niehaus portrayed it, most of all how it was written. Or let's take the moment when Bergmann's character waits outside for her just in case she decides to stay in Germany. Oh how cute and romantic! And what a self-confident woman Niehaus plays here with dedication and grace, right? Mildred Pierce level! (irony off) The easily entertained love it I'm sure. Then everything linked to the business early on. I already mentioned parts of it. So no matter if you take a look at the core story or the subplots, failure is everywhere in this movie. Highly, highly not recommended. What we have here is a big mess that is even too bad to be shown on german afternoon television just like it is today. Please don't mistake this film for a powerful take on a woman fighting for what she believes in. It's no such thing by any means.
