"Sehnsucht nach Liebe", which means "Longing for Love", is a German television film from 2004, so this one is already over 15 years old and like the vast majority of small screen releases here in my country, this one runs for 1.5 hours exactly. Or minimally under in fact. They are always slightly shorter. Never longer. Luckily. For most of them are pretty weak and to say this film here is "pretty weak" would still be a nice way to put it. Then again it should not come as a surprise to anybody how this turned out overall. After all, director Keusch (retired now) and writer Piper (still working apparently) have bodies of work that will not exactly get you curious about their newest effort if you get what I mean. The only reason why people watched this film and maybe also why it was made it aht they got experienced actress Barbara Rudnik to play the central character here. I don't want to be too harsh when it comes to her because she died five years later, but I also think she was a bit on the overrated side. The fact that she is among the better aspects this film has to offer is basically because so much is bad and not because she is any good. Her male co-lead here is played by Benjamin Sadler, an actor who is definitely more famous now as he was back then when this film was made. He feels more like a poor man's Benno Fürmann to me though and Fürmann himself is not even a good actor, so that says it all. If you read the title of my review, then you already know what I am thinking about it. With the reference to the film's title. It's as shallow is it gets. This title really could have been used for every romance movie on the planet. It is pretty didgusting how they attracted single women or women unhappy in their relationships with this trick. It can almost be called a scheme I'd say. The only slightly positive thing I can say there is that many of those who watched this film were actually as simple as the movie itself and though it was somewhat realistic at time.
The exact opposite is true. This film uses so many themes and ideas that have been used a million times in other films and while it presented them to the audience, there was zero wit or creativity to these. Take the idea that he is much younger. At least this was referenced once. I thought they'd levae it out completely in their messed-up idea that these two make a nice couple. They sure don't. I felt there was almost no chemistry between them. Another cringeworthy inclusion was the protagonist's sister and how she also has the hots for Sadler's character. Also how she talks to him when they meet again after a long time and he only has eyes for Rudnik's character. Then there is the other guy who wanted to be with Rudnik's character for so long, but he is not good enough for her. Take his "revenge", the comments from the other people how Rudnik's character played with him etc. Even her son says something like that. As for the son, his story is almost worse than the romance in here and that means quite something. How he quits school creates such a conflict and boom one scene later it is forgotten and his mother comfortably accepts his decision. Then the pseudo conflict with the other young man there who insults his mother and we are supposed to believe now he loses everything. Oh well, I wasn't because at that point I already did not care one bit about the young man's fate. Okay, I admit it. I never have. It's all nonsense, also how he runs away. And boom returns so quickly and all is good again. Same is true about how the children see Sadler's character as the new man in their mother's life. The little girl thinks immediately he is amazing. The son doesn't, but of course in the sense of a completely unrealistic forced happy ending, he comes to the same conclusion. As for Sadler's character, I honestly felt a bit bad for the actor there. He was really only in it to propel Rudnik's character and performance. Don't even get me started on the scene when he takes care of these horses. Horses! Every woman's dream. Okay, not every, but for most of them. And there was no reference there, no explanation, no elaboration. He was just randomly there taking care of the horses. Unreal stuff. So for the sake of it. Of course, also after years of absense he immediately gets offered the best jobs while nobody knows if he is even suitable to take care of the job that his uncle(?) cannot do right now because of his health struggles. By the way, also cringeworthy early on when we see him collapse and hear the girl ask if he is also going to heaven now like her father. Oh well, creating more fake sympathy by killing off the father before the film even starts. This is not quality storytelling. This movie, in its entirety, is the exact opposite. I highly highly recommend that you skiip the watch here. For your own good. If at least the (church) music was good, but let me tell you: I have been to many churches and heard some really nice music there, really good stuff, but what you hear in this film is an insult to the genre really. I am not talking about the two leads. Their singing is of course really good because they hired professional singers to lend them their voices. The consequence is that it is extremely obvious that these performances do not come from Rudnik and Sadler (or their characters) themselves. They put so little effort in here and basically every single production value is failure level. A bit surprised to see that this is not a Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion, but really Degeto at its worse. Disgraceful that German citizens are forced (no kidding!) to pay a double-digit amount each and every month for films like this to be made. An abomination. Highly not recommended. It's not even a film so bad that it is sometimes unintentionally funny like many others. It's just crap.
The exact opposite is true. This film uses so many themes and ideas that have been used a million times in other films and while it presented them to the audience, there was zero wit or creativity to these. Take the idea that he is much younger. At least this was referenced once. I thought they'd levae it out completely in their messed-up idea that these two make a nice couple. They sure don't. I felt there was almost no chemistry between them. Another cringeworthy inclusion was the protagonist's sister and how she also has the hots for Sadler's character. Also how she talks to him when they meet again after a long time and he only has eyes for Rudnik's character. Then there is the other guy who wanted to be with Rudnik's character for so long, but he is not good enough for her. Take his "revenge", the comments from the other people how Rudnik's character played with him etc. Even her son says something like that. As for the son, his story is almost worse than the romance in here and that means quite something. How he quits school creates such a conflict and boom one scene later it is forgotten and his mother comfortably accepts his decision. Then the pseudo conflict with the other young man there who insults his mother and we are supposed to believe now he loses everything. Oh well, I wasn't because at that point I already did not care one bit about the young man's fate. Okay, I admit it. I never have. It's all nonsense, also how he runs away. And boom returns so quickly and all is good again. Same is true about how the children see Sadler's character as the new man in their mother's life. The little girl thinks immediately he is amazing. The son doesn't, but of course in the sense of a completely unrealistic forced happy ending, he comes to the same conclusion. As for Sadler's character, I honestly felt a bit bad for the actor there. He was really only in it to propel Rudnik's character and performance. Don't even get me started on the scene when he takes care of these horses. Horses! Every woman's dream. Okay, not every, but for most of them. And there was no reference there, no explanation, no elaboration. He was just randomly there taking care of the horses. Unreal stuff. So for the sake of it. Of course, also after years of absense he immediately gets offered the best jobs while nobody knows if he is even suitable to take care of the job that his uncle(?) cannot do right now because of his health struggles. By the way, also cringeworthy early on when we see him collapse and hear the girl ask if he is also going to heaven now like her father. Oh well, creating more fake sympathy by killing off the father before the film even starts. This is not quality storytelling. This movie, in its entirety, is the exact opposite. I highly highly recommend that you skiip the watch here. For your own good. If at least the (church) music was good, but let me tell you: I have been to many churches and heard some really nice music there, really good stuff, but what you hear in this film is an insult to the genre really. I am not talking about the two leads. Their singing is of course really good because they hired professional singers to lend them their voices. The consequence is that it is extremely obvious that these performances do not come from Rudnik and Sadler (or their characters) themselves. They put so little effort in here and basically every single production value is failure level. A bit surprised to see that this is not a Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion, but really Degeto at its worse. Disgraceful that German citizens are forced (no kidding!) to pay a double-digit amount each and every month for films like this to be made. An abomination. Highly not recommended. It's not even a film so bad that it is sometimes unintentionally funny like many others. It's just crap.
