Summer Window (2011) User Reviews

Interesting premise but rather pointless story...

[MovieSonic · 6/10 · 11 January 2015]

I'm watching as many German-language films as I can to help improve my German and from that perspective, I can recommend this film because it's definitely not boring however; I didn't understand the point of the story.

Why did she need a 'second chance'? It's marketed as a love story and the synopsis indicates that it's her second chance with her partner but... he didn't die the first time around. They didn't split up. So the second chance aspect has nothing to do with him. Perhaps it's about her best friend? Except it can't be because she does absolutely nothing whatsoever to help her friend! Admittedly my German is average and I watched with Spanish subtitles (improving my Spanish too!) so I may have missed a subtle point or explanation but from what I gathered, she almost immediately told her best friend she was repeating the past but then DIDN'T tell her to be careful when crossing the road because she was going to die..! She had weeks to tell her and she never did! Am I expected to believe that an intelligent woman never considered that she had the option of changing the past? It took a small child to explain to her that she could do things differently? Who on earth reads their partner's mail? That's illegal and frankly, it's just not something that people ever do whether they know it's illegal or not because it's a huge invasion of privacy. The only thing I can think of is that maybe it's not illegal in Germany? Maybe it's considered polite to read someone else's mail?! Doubtful.

There were just so many things wrong with the story. A few tweaks here and there and it could have been great. For people looking for German-language films, yes, I can recommend this because the acting is great and it's fairly easy to follow plus time travel is always interesting even when it fails but unless you have an ulterior motive, such as being a huge fan of any of the actors or having OCD and needing to watch every time travel film ever made or you are learning German, probably don't bother.

6/10 (depending on why you're watching)

Good premise, weak execution

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 1 May 2016]

"Fenster zum Sommer" or "Summer Window" is a 5-year-old German/Finnish 95-minute movie by writer and director Hendrik Handloegten based on Hannelore Valencak's novel. I have not read said novel, so i am not sure if Handloegten or Valencak is to blame for this film being a disappointment for the most part. The script has its moments, but every time it goes into detail, it becomes pretty flawed. The general premise is an interesting one with a woman having traveled back in time getting the opportunity to change a few things for the better that went wrong. Still I have to wonder why all the things she did during her attempts to turn things goo have no impact at all, but that's a general problem with stories like these. It only changes exactly what they want to be changed and that is not realistic. The problem is not that the entire concept of traveling in time is absurd, the problem is that the writer did not elaborate on these issues convincingly.

Another problem here is the cast. I think Hoss was almost miscast here and Haberlandt proves once again that the way she constantly goes over the top with seemingly likable characters can be pretty annoying. I don't see great range in her, it's all down to charisma and her fitting the quirky nerdy girl always facing so many problems. Also the romance parts in here were fairly uninteresting and I personally never felt for the characters or hoped they would find happiness. What the do, of course. This is another of these films that sacrifice all realism for a feel-good ending. I also felt that the actors had very little chemistry in here, which hurt the overall picture and Hoss was far from good enough to carry this film on her shoulders to becoming a success. If you want to watch a quality movie about similar struggles between humans that is actually well thought through and convincing, I suggest "About Time". "Summer Window" is underwhelming during almost the entire film and I don't recommend it. Thumbs down.