"Die Sache mit der Wahrheit", which means "The thingey with the truth", is a German television film from 2014, so this one is easily over five years old already now and if it takes you a little longer until you read this review of mine, maybe even close to ten years. The director of these under 1.5 hours is Sibylle Tafel from Munich. I think a single look at her body of work is self-explanatory here to make clear that she is all quantity over quality with what she has done since the late 1990s. Absolutely disappointing filmography. The only things somewhat tolerable in there are her fairytale movies and this is probably also only because the base material was too good to be turned into atrocity the way it happened with almost everything else she came up with. Admittedly, you can say in her favor that she is a filmmaker that rarely wrote the scripts for her movies, so the fault may at least be partially elsewhere. With this film here, however, she did and the outcome is equally disappointing as those films where she was not in charge of the screenplay. Her co-writer here is Claudia Matschulla, who has been a prolific actress since the 1980s already, but recently focused more on writing. Looking at all she has come up with in both departments, I am anslo not one bit impressed and this is really the most gentle way to put things. Perhaps, a third area of expertise is what she should try. If it isn't too late as she already turned 60 not too long ago. But now back to this movie here. You see Christiane Paul on the right of the poster here and she is still a really known actress in Germany. I am always a bit undecided on her. Certainly not a fan and she has a tendency to play the same characters again and again in films because she simply does not have a lot of range, but normally she pulls off the likable part of her characters well and she also has some recognition value. Still a bit sad to see what her career has turned into (i.e. films like this one here) if we see how she was among the most promising German actors in her early years. Also no international breakthrough as one could have expected. Nonetheless, she is ten times better, probably more, compared to Jule Ronstedt, the woman you see on the left side of the poster. I have seen her in other films too and not only does she also play the same character over and over again, but she seems simply not capable of hitting the right notes whatsoever in films, especially when the characters have slightly more challenging scenes. Pretty ham and never authentic. The consequence for me is that the actress is so poor that I find her characters pretty unlikable at times too. Almost always. But they are meant to be likable. In this film here too. A bit surprised to see her this far behind in the cast list for the movie at hand, but I guess nobody from the production company really got in some order here. Of course, she should be (at least) second. Then again, I cannot be surprised because the film also lacks attention to detail and instead they shove one groundbreaking plot twist after the next into our faces. For the easily entertained. I will give you some examples later on. For now, also a quick look at the rest of the cast. No really big names here, but Duryn and Zeiler are at least actors you may have come across in other projects if you are not completely new to German films. Cannot say too much about Duryn. He is of course the lead actor in "Der Lehrer" and that show is pretty successful I think. He also looks much younger than he is. Zeiler is an actor who has been in some projects that contain much better quality than this one here, so he really should not have stooped so low and accepted the part here, especially with how ridiculous (in a bad way) and pseudo-important his character was written.
Now, as for the story itself, we once again have the same key problem that so many other ARD releases have or films that are still regularly shown on ARD's smaller stations: They are putting way too much in far too little. Consistent and convincing elaboration is not existent. What do we have here? A woman who is a pathological liar poses as a stewardess and in reality works as a waiter. Her boyfriend shows up at the place where she is working and she has to hide, so he does not find out. Also he wants to move in with her. Later on, she is pregnant and he makes her a marriage proposal. The woman sees a psychiatrist to deal with her lies, but quickly runs away when things become uncomfortable. She has an accident where she loses her memory or doesn't. You never know when she is lying again. In any case, her memory returns unrealistically fast. A miracle! At the same time she serves as the mentor to the son of a woman who is her friend. By encouraging him to pursue his dream of music and perform in front of an audience for a concert. I mean you hear him in the end and of course he must pursue this because he is talented. Guess what? He is not. Unbearabe to listen to, just like this film was unbearable to watch. But hey, it's all about the art of make-believe. Don't think yourself and you can deal with these ARD (Degeto) films very well. Just suck it all in. Like the Tagesschau etc. It's all paid by your GEZ money anyway, so you have no right to complain. Okay, so much for that. Now, let's talk about the other woman and how realistic she is. Her man is one who, as we find out, is in the closet and he has an affair with another man despite being married. Sigh. Of course, it all comes out. So again this film is another ARD movie with really strong ati-male tendencies. How are the men described here? One has to be really needy and treat Paul's character like a queen, even if she lies to him day in and day out. The other is the poor victim who is cheated on. Guess what, the cheating may not be right, but looking at the way she treated her man throughout the entire film, also long before the secret comes out, he should be glad to get away from her, no matter if he is with another man or his own. The only slightly acceptable thing coming from her were those attemps to convince him to spend time with each other. In the mountains for example. Also you can imagine very well what thinks would have been like if a male character had been a pathological liar in a film like this. He would be as low as it gets and the female protagonist would leave him immediately because of his permanent dishonesty. Not so here. Paul's character is just sick, even if she does not see it, so she must be desired nonetheless and met with the utmost amount of understanding about her situation. Guess what? I disagree. The words she said when talking to the shrink were really accurate. She is just sick in the head. Or maybe not because it also implies an illness. She just has no self-confidence and should work on that and not lie to the people most important to her. Or maybe they are not even that because then she would be honest with them. She is probably a narcissist that loves nobody but himself. What a likable character indeed, ARD. Worst scene of the film? Too many to choose from. I might be going with the one in the first half of the film when the two woman are standing there on the stage together singing. That was even worse than the cringeworthy errrr. lauded performance from the young man in the end. Of course, there is also a great deal of pseudo conflict in this film, like how we have a massive argument between the two female protagonists, but, also as always with ARD films, it is fixed effortlessly in the end again and the happy ending is there. The girls get along well with each other again and Ronstedt's character seems to be more positive too again and she does not need a man anyway to be happy in life. I don't know what else to say here. This was a very weak film, truly unwatchable at times. Highly not recommended. The only good thing about this film is that they never made a sequel and by now too much times has passed I suppose, so it's not gonna happen in the future either. Skip the watch 100%. Tafel at her worst.
Now, as for the story itself, we once again have the same key problem that so many other ARD releases have or films that are still regularly shown on ARD's smaller stations: They are putting way too much in far too little. Consistent and convincing elaboration is not existent. What do we have here? A woman who is a pathological liar poses as a stewardess and in reality works as a waiter. Her boyfriend shows up at the place where she is working and she has to hide, so he does not find out. Also he wants to move in with her. Later on, she is pregnant and he makes her a marriage proposal. The woman sees a psychiatrist to deal with her lies, but quickly runs away when things become uncomfortable. She has an accident where she loses her memory or doesn't. You never know when she is lying again. In any case, her memory returns unrealistically fast. A miracle! At the same time she serves as the mentor to the son of a woman who is her friend. By encouraging him to pursue his dream of music and perform in front of an audience for a concert. I mean you hear him in the end and of course he must pursue this because he is talented. Guess what? He is not. Unbearabe to listen to, just like this film was unbearable to watch. But hey, it's all about the art of make-believe. Don't think yourself and you can deal with these ARD (Degeto) films very well. Just suck it all in. Like the Tagesschau etc. It's all paid by your GEZ money anyway, so you have no right to complain. Okay, so much for that. Now, let's talk about the other woman and how realistic she is. Her man is one who, as we find out, is in the closet and he has an affair with another man despite being married. Sigh. Of course, it all comes out. So again this film is another ARD movie with really strong ati-male tendencies. How are the men described here? One has to be really needy and treat Paul's character like a queen, even if she lies to him day in and day out. The other is the poor victim who is cheated on. Guess what, the cheating may not be right, but looking at the way she treated her man throughout the entire film, also long before the secret comes out, he should be glad to get away from her, no matter if he is with another man or his own. The only slightly acceptable thing coming from her were those attemps to convince him to spend time with each other. In the mountains for example. Also you can imagine very well what thinks would have been like if a male character had been a pathological liar in a film like this. He would be as low as it gets and the female protagonist would leave him immediately because of his permanent dishonesty. Not so here. Paul's character is just sick, even if she does not see it, so she must be desired nonetheless and met with the utmost amount of understanding about her situation. Guess what? I disagree. The words she said when talking to the shrink were really accurate. She is just sick in the head. Or maybe not because it also implies an illness. She just has no self-confidence and should work on that and not lie to the people most important to her. Or maybe they are not even that because then she would be honest with them. She is probably a narcissist that loves nobody but himself. What a likable character indeed, ARD. Worst scene of the film? Too many to choose from. I might be going with the one in the first half of the film when the two woman are standing there on the stage together singing. That was even worse than the cringeworthy errrr. lauded performance from the young man in the end. Of course, there is also a great deal of pseudo conflict in this film, like how we have a massive argument between the two female protagonists, but, also as always with ARD films, it is fixed effortlessly in the end again and the happy ending is there. The girls get along well with each other again and Ronstedt's character seems to be more positive too again and she does not need a man anyway to be happy in life. I don't know what else to say here. This was a very weak film, truly unwatchable at times. Highly not recommended. The only good thing about this film is that they never made a sequel and by now too much times has passed I suppose, so it's not gonna happen in the future either. Skip the watch 100%. Tafel at her worst.
