"Du hast es Versprochen", which is the original German title and sounds a whole lot cooler than the international "Forgotten", is a traditional and mildly clichéd thriller that is nevertheless atmospheric throughout and building up towards a tense climax through solid performances and steady direction. The plot contains many basic elements that you've undoubtedly seen a dozen of times before and the vast majority of story twists are fairly easy to predict well in advance, but still it's quite admirable to see how the young writer/director Alex Schmidt turned the talkative script into a compelling and eerie film. Hanna and Clarissa, two beauties in their mid 30's coincidentally meet again under strange circumstances. Some twenty years ago, they were best friends and spent their holidays together at a small island community, but then they got separated. Since Hanna just caught her husband cheating on her, and Clarissa is still recovering from a suicide attempt, they decide to pick up their friendship and go back to the island for old times' sake. Once back on the island, many dark secrets and traumas that Hanna seemingly suppressed over the years come back to the surface. There was a third girl on the island, Maria, and she mysteriously vanished in the same year as Hanna and Clarissa's last holiday. Presumed long dead already, Maria's body was never recovered and the mystery surrounding her disappearance still endangers Hanna and her own 9-year-old daughter Lea. The small fishing island community, where it still appears to be the year 1909 since there aren't any paved roads or electronic devices anywhere, forms an ideal setting for a tale like this. There are large forests to get lost in, a lighthouse, castle ruins and – of course – those typical suspicious local yokels. Overall a praiseworthy European thriller that is worth the price of an entrance ticket if you encounter it at a festival, or something.
6 Reviews
Average ghost story
MovieSonic22 January 2015
I watched because it's in German and I can confirm that this film is excellent for German listening practice. The dialogue was extremely simple and brief so it was very easy to follow. I watched with German subtitles for any dialogue I might miss and I barely needed them.
So that's one reason why it's not so great as a film; the script.
What I liked was that the plot unfolded in a much more realistic way than I expected (I won't expand because I don't want to include spoilers) however, the various techniques employed to constantly remind viewers of the tag lines was fairly amateur: certain phrases kept being repeated and the entire film has been done 1000 times before.
I didn't like Mina Tander in the lead. Her acting was by-the-numbers and she just didn't have much charisma in this film. By that I mean, she didn't stand out. It didn't help that Laura de Boer was, in contrast, extremely charismatic and natural. I didn't believe the friendship between the two; their scenes felt very forced as did their smiles however, the acting was fine for the most part.
Since watching Wir sind die Nacht, I'm now a big fan of Max Riemelt but he does need to work on becoming a different person in his films as I've seen him use the same acting techniques and facial expressions in a few of his films now (e.g. Die Welle).
Overall, it's an average ghost story with one (or two) surprises but nothing new. It's perfect for those looking for German language films and people with a bit of time to kill who like typical ghost stories.
5.8/10
So that's one reason why it's not so great as a film; the script.
What I liked was that the plot unfolded in a much more realistic way than I expected (I won't expand because I don't want to include spoilers) however, the various techniques employed to constantly remind viewers of the tag lines was fairly amateur: certain phrases kept being repeated and the entire film has been done 1000 times before.
I didn't like Mina Tander in the lead. Her acting was by-the-numbers and she just didn't have much charisma in this film. By that I mean, she didn't stand out. It didn't help that Laura de Boer was, in contrast, extremely charismatic and natural. I didn't believe the friendship between the two; their scenes felt very forced as did their smiles however, the acting was fine for the most part.
Since watching Wir sind die Nacht, I'm now a big fan of Max Riemelt but he does need to work on becoming a different person in his films as I've seen him use the same acting techniques and facial expressions in a few of his films now (e.g. Die Welle).
Overall, it's an average ghost story with one (or two) surprises but nothing new. It's perfect for those looking for German language films and people with a bit of time to kill who like typical ghost stories.
5.8/10
Positively surprised for the most part
Horst_In_Translation12 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
"Du hast es versprochen" or "Dunkel" or "Forgotten" is a German 95-minute movie from 2012, so it has its 5th anniversary this year. It is the most known work by writer and director Alex Schmidt and actually his only full feature film until now. For that, the cast includes quite a couple names that German film fans will immediately recognize, such as lead actress Tander, the two Thalbachs, Max Riemelt and maybe also Clemens Schick, The co-lead is Dutch actress Laura de Boer and for her it is probably also the most known work. This movie we have here is a story full of suspense. Oh well.. it would be if the cast list here on IMDb would not include a major spoiler actually, so don't take a look at it. And don't keep reading now. I am not too sure if one could expect Maria's real identity as I saw it here on IMDb who she is, but I guess it was a bit on the predictable side. But not in a bad way, just in a way where you'd wonder why Tander's character did not realize. I really asked myself if it is realistic that she would not realize the woman is not her childhood friend. I mean physically you should realize it, even if they were that young I would say. But maybe I am wrong. It does not take away anything from the film overall and there are more weaknesses that aren't too serious. For example, it felt a bit clumsy how they were building up several supporting characters to be the actual antagonist, just to dismiss the idea immediately again. One example would be Katharina Thalbach's scene when she talks about Tander's character deserving death. But there are many positive aspects too of course. First of all, I have never been a great Tander fan, but I felt she was pretty decent here and a main reason why the film is working really well on some occasions. This is crucial as well as she is in pretty much every scene other than the flashbacks. Laura de Boer gives a good performance too and hands down to say she is absolute stunning would be a major understatement. I am not surprised Schick's character eventually falls for her at the ending. And this is also a positive aspect of the movie. Schmidt has no fear of going for an unhappy ending that puts the central character in a place where she is lost and alone. Of course, you can question the realism element, but I do believe that it was also working from this perspective. You do not really get memorable crime thrillers that often here in Germany, so you may need to make sure you don't miss out if there is actually one being released, even if it was several years ago. I recommend this one here. Certainly worth watching and a really atmospheric little movie where they did a lot right. Check it out.
Clever and carefully thought through
serepink-128 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Du Hast Es Versprochen is a really well-constructed horror film that constantly keeps you on edge and has you question what is real and what isn't. It evolves from being a ghost story to a psychological thriller and finally becomes a really unique movie where (finally!) the answer to the mystery is not due to something supernatural but can also be explained rationally, which is exactly what makes it even scarier. The director used music, interesting shots and colours to make the atmosphere more and more eerie as we go on and the excellent acting made the audience take different sides during the film, taking it in turns to doubt one or the other. The secondary characters not only add to the mystery, but contribute in making the island even more disquieting. We never know who to trust and we only find out the truth at the very end, when the island has become claustrophobic and the film has evolved into a nightmare, and that is when the director cleverly changes everything by revealing something new and unexpected, that also makes the whole story assume a completely different light.
The film starts with Hanna as a child telling a story of a little girl who was trapped in a hole in the forest and was waiting for another child to take her place, trying to lure little girls and make them go play with her, so she could trap them forever and be free. The story is obviously made up to scare the other girls, but it assumes a series of different meanings as the film evolves and we start questioning it, and we only find out at the end whether it was true or not. The ghost of the little girl is a constant presence in the film, but things aren't always what they look like. The story Hanna made up as a child will become really important at the end, leaving us feeling the same way we felt when the film started, only with a better understanding of the truth. In a way, the journey we begin when Hanna goes back to the island takes us back to the start at the very end, as we discover who the little girl is. In a way, the story little Hanna told to scare her friends will become reality, but not in the way she meant it as a child.When Hanna finds out who the little girl trapped in the hole is and who will take her place it will be too late to break the circle. The ending of the film was inevitable since the very beginning, but the story is true in a more grown-up, scary way that has nothing to do with ghosts and is, for this reason, much more disquieting.
That is exactly why I loved the film: as scary and mysterious as it is, it is not a typical horror story and the elements of the supernatural appear and disappear again at different points. The characters are introduced in a clever way, and the mystery around the figure of Maria helps adding confusion and giving it the blurry sense that we get when we are trying to remember something that happened a long time ago and that we have forgotten about. It is not only Hanna's (and Clarissa's) journey that we witness, it is our own journey too. Just like her, there are so many things that we don't know about our childhood, so many possibilities as to what could have happened to us in the past. The film explores a lot of issues, including guilt, revenge, anger, hysteria, love, truth and lies, obsession, memory, depression and explores the very essence of friendship. It looks into the past and shows its reflection on the future. It explores the way people's pasts makes them what they are now, and this why the nightmare never ends.
Just like in a circle, the characters are all connected between each other, and each of them changes and influences the other, making them what they are. This can be noticed immediately in the figure of Lea, who not only helps explore the whole idea of innocence that we associate children with, but who will also put all the pieces of the puzzle together at the end, becoming the centre of the whole story. She is a product of what somebody else's past made her, and just like for her mother, she is already doomed as the ending of the film (and her mother's story) marks the very beginning of her own story. In the end, the film doesn't give us any answer, but raises a series of questions instead. What if the meaningless things we did when we were little have repercussions on the future? Can our childhood condemn us and influence our whole life? Can something that we don't even remember doing come back to haunt us?
The film starts with Hanna as a child telling a story of a little girl who was trapped in a hole in the forest and was waiting for another child to take her place, trying to lure little girls and make them go play with her, so she could trap them forever and be free. The story is obviously made up to scare the other girls, but it assumes a series of different meanings as the film evolves and we start questioning it, and we only find out at the end whether it was true or not. The ghost of the little girl is a constant presence in the film, but things aren't always what they look like. The story Hanna made up as a child will become really important at the end, leaving us feeling the same way we felt when the film started, only with a better understanding of the truth. In a way, the journey we begin when Hanna goes back to the island takes us back to the start at the very end, as we discover who the little girl is. In a way, the story little Hanna told to scare her friends will become reality, but not in the way she meant it as a child.When Hanna finds out who the little girl trapped in the hole is and who will take her place it will be too late to break the circle. The ending of the film was inevitable since the very beginning, but the story is true in a more grown-up, scary way that has nothing to do with ghosts and is, for this reason, much more disquieting.
That is exactly why I loved the film: as scary and mysterious as it is, it is not a typical horror story and the elements of the supernatural appear and disappear again at different points. The characters are introduced in a clever way, and the mystery around the figure of Maria helps adding confusion and giving it the blurry sense that we get when we are trying to remember something that happened a long time ago and that we have forgotten about. It is not only Hanna's (and Clarissa's) journey that we witness, it is our own journey too. Just like her, there are so many things that we don't know about our childhood, so many possibilities as to what could have happened to us in the past. The film explores a lot of issues, including guilt, revenge, anger, hysteria, love, truth and lies, obsession, memory, depression and explores the very essence of friendship. It looks into the past and shows its reflection on the future. It explores the way people's pasts makes them what they are now, and this why the nightmare never ends.
Just like in a circle, the characters are all connected between each other, and each of them changes and influences the other, making them what they are. This can be noticed immediately in the figure of Lea, who not only helps explore the whole idea of innocence that we associate children with, but who will also put all the pieces of the puzzle together at the end, becoming the centre of the whole story. She is a product of what somebody else's past made her, and just like for her mother, she is already doomed as the ending of the film (and her mother's story) marks the very beginning of her own story. In the end, the film doesn't give us any answer, but raises a series of questions instead. What if the meaningless things we did when we were little have repercussions on the future? Can our childhood condemn us and influence our whole life? Can something that we don't even remember doing come back to haunt us?
I loved it!
josh-you-are24 October 2012
Im an Australian traveling around Europe at the moment and I went with some friends to go an see this movie as a sneak preview. I speak a little bit of German but the movie was very well produced and even though there was little dialog (Therefore I could understand most of it) it still came out as a great movie! I highly recommend going to see it, because I was trying to figure out the movie the whole time and then i didn't see the end coming. A really good movie and I definitely recommend going to see it when it comes out, I'm even going to go and see it a second time when its released. This movie though will make most people, apart from the hardened and soulless people out there, jump. There were many points in which the whole cinema jumped and even one young woman had to leave because she was too frightened. Definitely go and watch this movie, highly recommendable. Kudos to the producers! The amount of swearing involved is minimal, and there's nothing too gory, but i wouldn't recommend it for people under 12 unless accompanied by someone who can 'protect' them.
And guys, take your girlfriends, they'll want you to hold them tight during this one!
And guys, take your girlfriends, they'll want you to hold them tight during this one!
Dark and suspenseful
mario_c6 March 2013
It's a dark suspense thriller about two women which were best friends when they were kids and now they meet again, passed all these years. As child they used to spend some holidays in a small isolated island near the mainland, and now they meet again they decide to spend some days there one more time, to remember the old days
Everything goes fine until one of them see a photo where there're both of them and one third little girl she didn't remember
Maria!
It's atmospheric, dark, in a mood of a ghost story, and it has suspense until the end, where there's a nice twist in the plot. The setting and the soundtrack are quite good too in order to create a dark and atmospheric story. I appreciated it mostly because of the ambiance created. I score it 8/10.
It's atmospheric, dark, in a mood of a ghost story, and it has suspense until the end, where there's a nice twist in the plot. The setting and the soundtrack are quite good too in order to create a dark and atmospheric story. I appreciated it mostly because of the ambiance created. I score it 8/10.
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