"Im besten Alter" or "Suddenly Family" is an 85-minute German television film from 2011, so this one is almost a decade old now. The director is Felicitas Darschin, who was still really young when this was made, not even 30 and as a consequence not too experienced either. She had a break of many years recently (according to imdb), but now it seems that she is back to filmmaking. Her writer here is Wolfgang Stauch, more experienced for sure, but also not really too much. The outcome is as expected. This also has to do with the cast of course, even if the screenplay is negative deal-breaker here. We have two couples, both of them older already (which explains the German title), and they seem to live a rather simple life, which still won't keep them away from trouble. Things change a lot when a young, very pregnant woman enters their lives (especially one character's), so some drama will arise that does not only include her child that is soon going to come, but also her own family background. Maybe you already guessed what I mean with that, even if you have not seen the film. There is the possibility that one of the two men could be her father. The other man at the same time fights his own battle because his marriage is not going too well anymore after all thee years and things go south even further when another man enters the picture, who is clearly very interested in the wife. By the way, this "original" man is the one you see on the bottom right oof the photo here on imdb and that would be actor Leonard Lansink. I like him. I have seen many Wilsberg episodes and I must say he is the only one from the cast that I recognize and that means quite something because I have seen many many German films. Lansink should not appear in bad films like this one here thhouggh. He is too good for that and it showed on several occasions. He has decent range and his character here felt nothing like Wilsberg. Oh wait, it is not true. I know Josefine Preuß of course because she was a big rising star around the time when this was made. I never got the appeal though, don't see much talent in her.
Admittedly, she may not be the worst female performer on here because the other two female actresses at the center of the story feel like they are overacting a lot, so certainly not my loss that I am not familiar with them. Seems to me as if they really did not have a big budget here. I would not even blame the director, but kinda sad if you have to deal with such a screenplay as a young aspiring filmmaker. You can't even blame her because she was not in charge of penning the plot. Anyway, there are many issues with this film because of which, it never felt like a realistic film. And it does take itself seriously, so this made things even worse. Let's just start with the pseudo dramatic scene, in which one character has to get another out of the water early on. Or another scene in which the pregnant woman is on a boat and of course this is when the baby comes. Awesome idea too to go out for a boat trip into nowhere when it could happen anytime. The hole fatherhood story felt rushed and uninspired in its entirety, so no surprise it did not evoke any emotions in me.. Of course, there is also this happy ending when we see the baby (also rushed and almost insulting to every woman who has been through a pregnancy before) and finally they are all united at the table and everything seems (almost) solved. I must say that in addition to the obvious flaws in story-telling, I was absolutely not happy with how the men were depicted here. The women are the smart, self-confident ones and the men... well they are grumpy, don't take enough care about their women (and have to beg eventually for them to take them back, even if these women go out with other men), have children from other people in secret etc. Even more embarrassing seeing this script is from a male writer. I mean I am not too fond of censorship etc., but if it happens, then it should at least be for people who apparently really lack talent like Stauch. Then again, the story was obviously a business decision. It is widely known that it is mostly (older) females, who keep watching these films and not their male counterparts, probably not even their male significant others. Perhaps to some extent you can also say that the stories in films like this one can really hurt relationships because some female viewers may actually think that there is some truth and authenticity to these films and start questioning their marriages. Anyway, no reason to see this and Lansink alone is not enough for sure either. He should be playing influential mobsters instead in quality movies. He sure has the looks and I think he could pull it off. What a watse to see him in something like this. Highly not recommended.
Admittedly, she may not be the worst female performer on here because the other two female actresses at the center of the story feel like they are overacting a lot, so certainly not my loss that I am not familiar with them. Seems to me as if they really did not have a big budget here. I would not even blame the director, but kinda sad if you have to deal with such a screenplay as a young aspiring filmmaker. You can't even blame her because she was not in charge of penning the plot. Anyway, there are many issues with this film because of which, it never felt like a realistic film. And it does take itself seriously, so this made things even worse. Let's just start with the pseudo dramatic scene, in which one character has to get another out of the water early on. Or another scene in which the pregnant woman is on a boat and of course this is when the baby comes. Awesome idea too to go out for a boat trip into nowhere when it could happen anytime. The hole fatherhood story felt rushed and uninspired in its entirety, so no surprise it did not evoke any emotions in me.. Of course, there is also this happy ending when we see the baby (also rushed and almost insulting to every woman who has been through a pregnancy before) and finally they are all united at the table and everything seems (almost) solved. I must say that in addition to the obvious flaws in story-telling, I was absolutely not happy with how the men were depicted here. The women are the smart, self-confident ones and the men... well they are grumpy, don't take enough care about their women (and have to beg eventually for them to take them back, even if these women go out with other men), have children from other people in secret etc. Even more embarrassing seeing this script is from a male writer. I mean I am not too fond of censorship etc., but if it happens, then it should at least be for people who apparently really lack talent like Stauch. Then again, the story was obviously a business decision. It is widely known that it is mostly (older) females, who keep watching these films and not their male counterparts, probably not even their male significant others. Perhaps to some extent you can also say that the stories in films like this one can really hurt relationships because some female viewers may actually think that there is some truth and authenticity to these films and start questioning their marriages. Anyway, no reason to see this and Lansink alone is not enough for sure either. He should be playing influential mobsters instead in quality movies. He sure has the looks and I think he could pull it off. What a watse to see him in something like this. Highly not recommended.
