"Paradies in den Bergen", which means "Paradise in the Mountains" is an Austrian/German co-production from 2004, so this film had its 15th anniversary last year. Looking at the quality of this film, it is probably good news that director Griesmayr is not making films anymore, but retired now. He sounds really Austrian by the way, but truth is he is from Thuringia. One of the two writers is Austrian though, namely Breitebner who has been a prolific actress before switching to writing and still has more acting credits than writing credits in her body of work. The other writer is German. Here we can also say that they are both females and while people emphasize that gender must be a factor only if females come up with something great, what the duo did here, is really the complete opposite. You can't have it one way. So I really don't like that they are both still working because what they did with this movie here is 100% evidence that neither Breitebner nor Hess have any writing talent. If they had, then they would have at least tried to fix the other's mistakes, but there is no fixing here. On the contrary, it seems they made things even worse apparently for the film to really hit rock bottom. So maybe I am doing Griesmayr injustice here because probably the most talented director on the planet could not have turned this screenplay into a good movie. This film runs for slightly under 90 minutes, just like German small screen productions usually do. The language is German here of course. The title is also a bit of a joke. Yes, a large part of the film takes place in the mountains, but hope that this could at least be a good watch visually are stomped right away too. Given the location, even if the story is garbage, this could have been a breathtakingly beautiful movie, but even in this department they come painfully short. Just like in every other. This film is as cheap and shallow as it gets. Also the title is as generic as it gets and could have been used for almost every film where the mountains play a role. Or do they? Actually, the male protagonist could also live at the seaside and they would have switches one word in the title and it would have been the exact same film.
Anyway, now a few words on the cast: Ursula Buschhorn plays the central character and that is by far not the only trashy television movie where this is the case. She is just not a good actress at all. Bernhard Schir isn't much better. He also appeared in several of these films. Funnily(?) enough I watched another with him just one day earlier. He is definitely highly prolific in this department and that does not say anything positive about his talent or absence thereof. It is basically all about his looks I suppose. Just like with Buschhorn. Then again, the way his character is written is also nothing to be proud of. Already take the scene when he fixes the car and the other woman is near him, touching him etc. so we know right away he is a handsome fella who knows how to fix things. A real man. Next example would be the first meeting between the two main characters when he out of nowhere offers her to get her suitcases to her room. I mean it is okay as he seems to work for the hotel too, but the way it was done, also in terms of thee dialogue, was absolutely cringeworthy. Then basically every scene including Elisabeth Lanz. She is obviously not a great actress, but I still felt sorry for her somehow with how her character was written. A completely shallow abomination. No actress could have made this nonsense work. Be it the touching I mentioned earlier, be it her face (the camera to her face) when she sees that Schir's character is more interested in the new woman. Be it the scenes in which she is verbally catfighting with Buschhorn's character, who is of course all likable and tender etc., it is all a massive mess. Buschhorn by the way also has many really bad scenes and moments. The best example (i.e. worst example) is the idea of her wanting to write children's literature. Well, it would probably the same level quality-wise as the writing for this movie. How it comes to her mind when she is up there on the mountain with her new lover. And how they are making out for the very first time later on, of course after he makes sure she is warm, utter cringe. And of course, this exact moment is when the other woman also enters the scene. Very realistic, folks. Elisabeth Lanz is one of several Austrian cast members here, which may explain why Austria is also credited as a producing country. So is Schir and also Herbert Fux is on board and this is maybe a name that even international audiences could recognize. Not sure. Also not sure if he has the greatest range, but he has amazing recognition value. Pretty sad that at the end of his career he had to appear in crappy films like this one that are really as low as it gets. Finally, this is also a sexist movie. It wants us to appreciate the female protagonist although she is cheating on her husband. But hey, it is only evil when men do it. With the protagonist here, it is only because her husband does not pay her enough attention, does not care enough for her and the son etc. So very justified that she does what she does. Of course, at the end, there is also again this pseudo story that perhaps they could end up with other partners, but it is all fake and make-believe of course and the two main characters get together. I just mentioned the son. Kids in these films are usually a good example of how good the production values are because high-quality child actors are difficult to find. Plus writing good dialogues for kids is even more difficult than doing so for adults. They failed with the latter though already, so no surprise they also failed hard with the former. The actor here that goes by the name Wolf-Niklas Schykowski has stopped acting in 2013, which was a brilliant decision and I applaud him for making this choice and probably focusing on a job instead where he is talented. He is just one of very many negative aspects about this film. His story is almost an insult to people actually struggling from asthma. And also was there the almost compulsory story again with the kid running away, but luckily being safe? Not sure. probably a good thing I forgot a lot about this film already although I watched it only 40 hours ago or so. I want to forget it all and there is of course no hesitation for me in saying this is not only a weak film, but a terrible movie. Massive thumbs-down and the already low rating here on imdb is still way too high.
Anyway, now a few words on the cast: Ursula Buschhorn plays the central character and that is by far not the only trashy television movie where this is the case. She is just not a good actress at all. Bernhard Schir isn't much better. He also appeared in several of these films. Funnily(?) enough I watched another with him just one day earlier. He is definitely highly prolific in this department and that does not say anything positive about his talent or absence thereof. It is basically all about his looks I suppose. Just like with Buschhorn. Then again, the way his character is written is also nothing to be proud of. Already take the scene when he fixes the car and the other woman is near him, touching him etc. so we know right away he is a handsome fella who knows how to fix things. A real man. Next example would be the first meeting between the two main characters when he out of nowhere offers her to get her suitcases to her room. I mean it is okay as he seems to work for the hotel too, but the way it was done, also in terms of thee dialogue, was absolutely cringeworthy. Then basically every scene including Elisabeth Lanz. She is obviously not a great actress, but I still felt sorry for her somehow with how her character was written. A completely shallow abomination. No actress could have made this nonsense work. Be it the touching I mentioned earlier, be it her face (the camera to her face) when she sees that Schir's character is more interested in the new woman. Be it the scenes in which she is verbally catfighting with Buschhorn's character, who is of course all likable and tender etc., it is all a massive mess. Buschhorn by the way also has many really bad scenes and moments. The best example (i.e. worst example) is the idea of her wanting to write children's literature. Well, it would probably the same level quality-wise as the writing for this movie. How it comes to her mind when she is up there on the mountain with her new lover. And how they are making out for the very first time later on, of course after he makes sure she is warm, utter cringe. And of course, this exact moment is when the other woman also enters the scene. Very realistic, folks. Elisabeth Lanz is one of several Austrian cast members here, which may explain why Austria is also credited as a producing country. So is Schir and also Herbert Fux is on board and this is maybe a name that even international audiences could recognize. Not sure. Also not sure if he has the greatest range, but he has amazing recognition value. Pretty sad that at the end of his career he had to appear in crappy films like this one that are really as low as it gets. Finally, this is also a sexist movie. It wants us to appreciate the female protagonist although she is cheating on her husband. But hey, it is only evil when men do it. With the protagonist here, it is only because her husband does not pay her enough attention, does not care enough for her and the son etc. So very justified that she does what she does. Of course, at the end, there is also again this pseudo story that perhaps they could end up with other partners, but it is all fake and make-believe of course and the two main characters get together. I just mentioned the son. Kids in these films are usually a good example of how good the production values are because high-quality child actors are difficult to find. Plus writing good dialogues for kids is even more difficult than doing so for adults. They failed with the latter though already, so no surprise they also failed hard with the former. The actor here that goes by the name Wolf-Niklas Schykowski has stopped acting in 2013, which was a brilliant decision and I applaud him for making this choice and probably focusing on a job instead where he is talented. He is just one of very many negative aspects about this film. His story is almost an insult to people actually struggling from asthma. And also was there the almost compulsory story again with the kid running away, but luckily being safe? Not sure. probably a good thing I forgot a lot about this film already although I watched it only 40 hours ago or so. I want to forget it all and there is of course no hesitation for me in saying this is not only a weak film, but a terrible movie. Massive thumbs-down and the already low rating here on imdb is still way too high.
