"Die Fischerin" or "The Fisherwoman" is a German television film from 2014, so this one has its 5th anniversary this year. The director is Jan Ruzicka and he is a really experienced filmmaker, which is probably why direction-wise there is not too much wrong with these 90 minutes. However, the script has many flaws and you can call it a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth because there are 3 (female) writers in here and they really messed up on some occasions despite being no rookies at all, even if they are also not as experienced as Ruzicka. But their gender is not a big surprise because the one and only central character here is also a woman. This one is played by Alwara Höfels, kinda known here in Germany and she has been in some big films, even if only playing minor characters. But here she is in the lead and she does an okay job I would say. Nothing outstanding, nothing bad either. And she looks more stunning than I remembered. The only performance she ever won an award for according to imdb. But lets not go into detail there any further. Instead, it can be said that Max von Thun especially, but alsok Golo Euler, who play her love interests, are character German film buffs have certainly come across in other movies. Or of course Rüdiger Vogler thanks to his several collaborations with Wim Wenders and here he plays the title character's father. So it is somewhat fitting that there is a crucial father-daughter story line that involves her brother's death years ago. It is okay, probably among the better aspects of the film thanks to Vogler's expertise. The idea of how they got it in with the heart attack scare that was obviously just a collapse from exhaustion because Vogler would be very present the rest of the film.
About the love relationship struggles, I cannot say too much positive honestly. I could have done without them entirely and they simply should have skipped the story line of Euler's character. Or only included him as the father to the boy and that is enough. It is not the problem how he is acting, even if it not helping either. The damage was done by the screenplay here. It just rings false that she starts kissing him, almost ends up in bed with him despite her boyfriend at home. Did not fit the character somehow and if this is the writers' take on how the character is flawed (yet likable) and struggles emotionally, then they should stay away from writing in the future. Very shallow, very superficial and barely no attention to detail. There are more moments when things went really wrong. The boyfriend's call the very moment when she is about to kiss the other guy is truly cringeworthy. The two playfully fighting with these big rods later on is utter cringe as well. Or away from this part of the story, the scenes when the father and his grandson go missing and their boat is found. Come on. Pseudo drama at its worse. We always knew nothing happened and it feels so much for the sake of it that it was a bit unbearable. So the longer the film went, the more they were messing things up. The father perhaps moving out at the end also feels rushed in for such a crucial decision and character writing just wasn't there on a sufficient level, if defining a character by saying he got grumpy after his wife died is all they have to offer here. And sadly it is. Kinda difficult to find many positive aspects here. The ending shot was kinda nice and the song played with it as well. Overall though, the negative was just more frequent or lets say worse than the positive was good if you know what I mean with that. I also found it a bit disappointing visually looking at where the film takes place. They sure could have done more with the landscapes there. So this is a film that only runs in the afternoon program here in Germany and this is sort of where it belongs. Thumbs-down. Not recommended.
About the love relationship struggles, I cannot say too much positive honestly. I could have done without them entirely and they simply should have skipped the story line of Euler's character. Or only included him as the father to the boy and that is enough. It is not the problem how he is acting, even if it not helping either. The damage was done by the screenplay here. It just rings false that she starts kissing him, almost ends up in bed with him despite her boyfriend at home. Did not fit the character somehow and if this is the writers' take on how the character is flawed (yet likable) and struggles emotionally, then they should stay away from writing in the future. Very shallow, very superficial and barely no attention to detail. There are more moments when things went really wrong. The boyfriend's call the very moment when she is about to kiss the other guy is truly cringeworthy. The two playfully fighting with these big rods later on is utter cringe as well. Or away from this part of the story, the scenes when the father and his grandson go missing and their boat is found. Come on. Pseudo drama at its worse. We always knew nothing happened and it feels so much for the sake of it that it was a bit unbearable. So the longer the film went, the more they were messing things up. The father perhaps moving out at the end also feels rushed in for such a crucial decision and character writing just wasn't there on a sufficient level, if defining a character by saying he got grumpy after his wife died is all they have to offer here. And sadly it is. Kinda difficult to find many positive aspects here. The ending shot was kinda nice and the song played with it as well. Overall though, the negative was just more frequent or lets say worse than the positive was good if you know what I mean with that. I also found it a bit disappointing visually looking at where the film takes place. They sure could have done more with the landscapes there. So this is a film that only runs in the afternoon program here in Germany and this is sort of where it belongs. Thumbs-down. Not recommended.
