Center of My World (2016) User Reviews

Two mis-matched plot lines - but nonetheless pleasing

[euroGary · 7/10 · 24 March 2017]

This film focuses on Phil, a teenager who returns to his (Austrian? German?) hometown after spending time away at a summer camp and is dismayed to find that in his absence something has happened to cause his twin sister Dianne and tediously non-conformist mother Glass to stop speaking to each other. But distracting him from that mystery is Nicholas, the sporty, handsome new classmate who quickly invites Phil to join him in the changing room showers...

This feels like two separate films. On the one hand we have the dark, threatening tone of the segments involving the mystery of Glass and Dianne's falling out; on the other the (at first) light-hearted romance (whose most amusing moment comes when Phil's two jolly, middle-aged lesbian friends congratulate him for having sex rather than, eg, counselling against carnal activity in public showers). As a result of this contradiction in tone the viewer at times wonders what kind of film he's watching. But there is no denying that within themselves the plots are well-handled: clues about the Glass/Dianne troubles are there for the taking (although this viewer missed the major one!); while the scenes between Phil and Nicholas are at times amusing and at other times pleasingly erotic.

As for the acting, lead Louis Hofmann makes Phil effeminate without being politically incorrect, and Jannik Schümann does what he can with the thankless role of seductive, muscular eye candy, treating Phil with thoughtless indifference (when not locking lips). Meanwhile, in the major 'adult' role, Sabine Timoteo makes the somewhat irresponsible and self-indulgent Glass a lot more likable than I should have found her!

the book - as usual- is the better choice

[mail-04210 · 7/10 · 18 August 2018]

I've read the book some years ago. I remember being fascinated by the almost fantasy-like world in which our hero and his family live. They are funny, warmhearted, easygoing and freewheeling -and there is some magic secret waiting to be uncovered. And the strange boy has secrets too and is shrouded in mysteries. In the film almost all of the females are shrill borderline cases, acting way over the top most of the time. Our hero is weak willed and confused (which is okay for a teenager coming of age) and must be constantly advised and be comforted by those females who can't master their own affairs. The other boy comes across as a blunt, sexy, needy and selfish guy without any mystery in his life. Being gay myself I appreciate the nicely filmed sex-scenes (guys have sex in the nude and are not covered in linen and shorts like their american brothers ). Louis Hofmann and Jannik Schümann are believable in their roles (as the director sees them) but the MAGIC which hovers about them in the book can't be felt here.

A Wonderful Film Definitely Worth Watching

[ricardo_edm · 8/10 · 22 October 2017]

I have watched this film twice, first when it came out and today. I must say that I enjoyed it immensely both times but today, on the second viewing, I was able to pick up even more nuances of the script, the plot, and the acting. It is very difficult for a film where there is translation involved to grasp the viewer unless the actors are able to convey the script through their emotions. This film manages to do that, at times I almost felt like I spoke German because I could feel what the characters were feeling.

I have seen a few comments from people that did not like this movie and I respect them. Personally, I think it was an extremely well made film, with good acting, a good script, an excellent plot that provided just enough of a happy ending without turning it into a fairy tale. This is one of those movies that left me feeling sad for some of the events that happened in it but at the same time made me feel happy for the hopefulness of the ending

Hit me right in my heart

[Myssmaggq · 27 March 2021]

When a film can describe everything your currently going through without doing too much...means alot. The emptiness you feel when you are seeing someone who is not giving them all to you and you feel as if you can lost them at any moment. The horrific feeling it feels when you realize that they are into someone else and that you were just a passing moment (an effective moment but still a passing one). I love this film. Amazing acting, beautiful cast and lots of hot scenes with the actors. BRAVO.

Coming of age tale

[robertayers-1967 · 7/10 · 14 September 2020]

Center of my world was a coming of age tale about a 17 year old boy name Phil who is gay. He comes home from a trip to find that a storm has destroyed much of his hometown. This storm is also a metaphor for the relationship between his sister and mother which is now much worse than when he left. The relationship is strained and he hangs out with best friend Kat who tells him about the new boy in school who he soon meets and falls for. The boy returns the affection and a passionate relationship begins. He also is friends with the lesbian neighbors who give him the keys to their shed so he has a place for his affair with new boy Nicholas. However things at home aren't going so well, and he ends up leaving and stays with the neighbors for awhile as his relationship with Nicholas becomes stronger. Soon the two of them and best friend Kat start hanging out, and then something happens that flips Phil's world upside down, and this is a point I find troublesome. This is where the movie could've shown different viewpoints of other characters. There are hints about what happens, but because we only have Phil's Pov we dont see how things ended up the way they did through others eyes, and its make certain characters seem shallow, when they didn't seem that way at all earlier in the story. Soon after this turn of events, Phil returns home to mend things with his family. It is here that he succeeds after much sadness and pain, and the story becomes about family dynamic and that is the main theme of the story. The story ends on with Phil heading off to America and knowing that his family is the center of his world. The story was strong, the scenes beautiful, and the acting passionate and good, especially from Lewis Hoffman and the woman who plays his Mom, but other viewpoints could've been used to better understand certain character's motivations and actions. I give it a 7.

A brave and authentic gem

[SunParakeet · 9/10 · 21 November 2016]

What does cinema mean to you? To me it means emotions and stories, told with moving images, with music and with words. And, in my opinion, for cinema to be at its greatest it needs to brave and vulnerable.

Center of My World is exactly that: brave and vulnerable. And intimate. And true.

Its is the story of Phil, a standard teenager, who is just a little gayer than the rest. But him being gay is really not an important part of the story.

He struggles with his family, with deeply hidden secrets of the past and their effects in the present, which may break his family apart. And he falls in love for the first time. That's really it.

And while watching this in the cinema some people laughed at the film. Because it shows how love is, unironically and over-the-top. It dives deep into Phil's emotions and shows us not only the center of his world, but maybe even the center of THE world (hence the original German title "The Center of the World"). And most people can not let themselves dive into these depths.

And if you want to experience this small gem of a movie, you have to make yourself vulnerable, too. Leave your irony at home, just watch this movie as you are - naked and vulnerable.

Then you may see what cinema can do, what cinema is for.

A well-intentioned Bildungsroman strong on emotion but less on bite and signature flair

[lasttimeisaw · 7/10 · 12 February 2019]

A movie adaptation of the popular German YA novel THE CENTER OF THE WORLD by Andreas Steinhöfel, published in 1998, CENTER OF MY WORLD, directed by Austrian filmmaker Jakob M. Erwa, his third feature, is a Bildungsroman about a 17-year-older Phil (Hofmann), who returns from his three-week summer camp, during which his hometown has been torpedoed by a storm, and is bemused to notice that his twin sister Dianne (Stappenbeck) and their single mother Glass (Timoteo) are barely on speaking terms. What happened between the mother-daughter pair? It must go back to their past, and the movie takes a fitful rhythm to juggle between the two time-lines of present and past.

Meantime, Phil has his own adolescent problem to cope with, his nascent attraction to the new boy in the class Nicholas (Schümann) would put a strain on the friendship with his best friend Kat (Jung), especially when Nicholas and him become an item. Little does he know (but for viewers, telling signs are everywhere), a double betrayal is laid in store. For a sensitive, romantic soul like Phil, who is perpetually looking for a sense of security in his one-sided infatuation, the school of hard knocks is a requisite rite of passage, and gladly, he will grow out of it and at the same time, solving the multifarious little hitches to a wholesome happy ending, topped off with a hard-earned decision to let go of the big question mark of his existence, who is his biological father?

While Erwa's narrative structure tends to be haphazard, more often than not, the dialogue is pure platitude (albeit benign to a fault), his visual flare also tallies with a televisual blandness, with a habit of dropping pop anthems in full impact, but the most peevish thing is that many potentially intriguing ingredients are unwisely downplayed, for example, Dianne's preternatural power of communing with animals, inherited from their unnamed father, is only exhibited once, and by focusing on Phil, the missing piece of Dianne's more dramatic and numinous arc feels short-changed.

Two outstanding performances emerge out of a patchy cast (to this reviewer's eyes, Schümann's jock allure is roundly undermined by his asymmetrical eyes, and both Stappenbeck and Jung feel miscast, the former doesn't continue a uniquely ethereal air of her younger counterpart, played by Sarah Fuhrer, and the latter is saddled with a very unsympathetic role who doesn't even have a chance to explain her improprieties), a fresh-faced Louis Hofmann beautifully interprets Phil's sensitivity and queer delicacy, and a lissom Sabine Tomoteo is indeed, a wonder-maker through inhabiting a fey, temperamental woman who lives with her two kids in a derelict mansion, and never for a split second, actually, goes off the deep end against all the seemingly impressions, albeit her troubled history riddled with frequent break-ups, bad reputation and a mysterious miscarriage that is created by and furthermore creates internal fiction, she makes Glass a hell of a woman and a darn good mother too, that is something only a real trouper manages to pull off.

A coming of age movie that works

[Red-125 · 9/10 · 26 March 2017]

The German film Die Mitte der Welt was shown in the U.S. with the translated title Center of My World (2016). It was written and directed by Jakob M. Erwa.

This movie can be interpreted in many ways. It's a coming of age movie, a gay love story, and a melodrama with many twists and turns.

Louis Hofmann plays Phil, a gay young man, who is looking for a boyfriend-lover-partner. Jannik Schümann plays Nicholas, who is handsome and athletic, and becomes Phil's boyfriend and lover, if not partner. Both Hofman and Schümann are fine young actors, and they do admirable work in this film. Also involved in the plot is Phil's twin sister, who may or may not have some special powers.

For me, however, the acting honors go to Sabine Timoteo as Glass, Phil's mother. She brings men into the family, and then sends them away, with devastating results to her children. Timoteo brings acting skills that allow her to inhabit this role. You can't take your eyes off her as she lives--and messes up--her life and the lives of others. She always tells just enough of the story to make you aware that she knows more than she tells.

The film will work well on the small screen.

An above average film about the thrill of first love

[justahunch-70549 · 7/10 · 27 November 2023]

A really nice gay coming of age film with a very likable cast lead by Louis Hofmann, a young actor who I just recently watched in a 26 hour binge of "Dark" on Netflix. This is an earlier film and he is very good in the lead. It's also a family drama with an unusual mother who is very enjoyable as is the actress who plays her, Sabine Timoteo, but she has a serious problem with men and our lead has a twin sister who is mostly a very unhappy camper alienating herself from her family. We eventually learn why and that is the film's one real off note. As soon as we learn what causes her unhappiness, and it is very serious, she is suddenly very happy?! Why the sudden change, I've no idea. In the midst of his family going through their various struggles, he falls in love for the first time with a hunky new classmate and as with any first "loves" we know in advance it will be both incredible and eventually problematic as first loves usually are. I don't know if this kind of acceptance of gay people in Germany is commonplace or it's just this wonderfully supportive movie family, but their reaction to his being gay is like a breath of fresh air. There's never the slightest hint of disapproval or anything out of the ordinary. There's a small plotline about a snow globe that seems to be leading to something, but it is curiously just dropped other than vaguely suggesting that someone may be a thief. In any event, it's a nice film about gay people that isn't tragic!

Wonderful film, one of the best of 2016

[Tye-J · 9/10 · 20 November 2016]

To start with, I completely disagree with a previous 2/10 review.

"Center of my world" / "Die Mitte der Welt" was and is one of my most beloved novels I first read end of the 90ies shortly before it has been released. It's a wonderful book I always return to. I didn't know how it could be brought to screen - until now.

When I first saw the trailer I was already roped back into the world of Steinhöfels book. I needed to see this film and I did on the first weekend. While they removed several parallel and back stories of the book to create a better narration for the screen, they managed to keep the dreamy atmosphere of the book for the whole 2 hours. The main cast is more than perfect, from Louis Hofmann as Phil to Sabine Timeteo as his mother, to Jannik Schürmann as Nicholas. I fell in love with each of them. The setting in the small town and the enchanted home of the "different" family was a perfect match to the tone and style of the story. It was wonderful to live, laugh and cry with the characters throughout, a very emotional, dreamy, wonderful journey, accompanied with a beautiful soundtrack. The love story between the two main characters blew me away, so real, intimate and wonderful to watch.

I didn't see any other film this year that I embraced so much like "Die Mitte der Welt". Maybe I will see it a second time in the cinema but the Blu-ray will be on my shelves on day one. Go and watch it, it won't get better this year.

A bit too much drama, but Louis Hofmann is great!

[johannes2000-1 · 7/10 · 21 July 2022]

This is a sympathetic and very sincere movie, in which we see how main character Phil, a bright and cheerful gay high school kid, suddenly finds himself in the eye of an emotional storm: experiencing his first Great Love and subsequently the pain of loosing it again, and at the same time a big family crisis, concerning his beloved twin sister and his mother. Young actor Louis Hofmann (at the time hardly 19 years old) plays the pivotal part of Phil admirably, he is totally convincing in all the emotional turmoil that he has to endure.

I also have some reservations. Phil's best friend Kat is pictured as being totally hysterical, and with that extremely annoying, and that goes the same for Phil's mother, every scene with them made my toes curl! Why did the mother have this complicated American background? It added nothing whatsoever to the story. With almost two hours the movie is really over-long, and especially in the second half things get more and more melodramatic, it could have used at least a little bit of humor to counterbalance all the misery and tears. The big twist that shattered Phil's love came totally out of the blue, why not some signs or innuendos in advance, to make it at least a bit more believable?

On the other hand, the gay love-story is pictured very sweet and natural, without prudish restraint, which is absolutely refreshing. And as said, Louis Hofmann is really great and even by himself makes this movie worth your while!

Fantastic storytelling, memorable characters

[vicstevinson · 10/10 · 4 January 2018]

The greatest strength of this coming-of-age story that centers on a young gay man is that his sexuality is established: being gay is not his discovery or central point of the film. He knows he's gay, as does his mom, sister, friends and neighbors. This film is about relationships -- an entire spectrum of them, and not just his interactions. Louis Hofmann as Phil turns in a stunning performance, a great deal of his best moments are unspoken and occur on his face and in his eyes. Jannick Schulmann as Nicholas is ferociously seductive and sweeps Phil and us onlookers off our feet. The surroundings feel natural and speak of each character beautifully. When elements begin coming together, the results are stunning, pointing to a strong script.

Failure everywhere from start to finish

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 17 November 2016]

"Die Mitte der Welt" is a German-Austrian co-production from 2016, this year, and the language is predominantly German, with very few English phrases here and there because of one of the character's American origin. The writer and director is relatively young Austrian movie maker Erwa and it resulted in a movie that runs for almost two hours. And these were painful to sit through. Regardless of how much all the characters in this film may have suffered, you as an audience member with taste in movies suffer more while watching this and with this, of course, I don't mean that you feel for any of the characters, but I do mean you suffer because of how crappy this film is. Lets start with the gay-themed content in here. There are many many gay-themed short films and also some gay-themed full feature films out there and the problem there is often that they entirely rely on audiences caring for these films because of the story on sexuality. This is partially true for this one here. There are more than a few scenes where this film includes pointless sex scenes or nudity that adds nothing to the story, but was just included because the two characters in love were men. You would not see the same in the same quantity in a film about a heterosexual relationship. And besides I really object to the first quote of the film when the main character talks about being pretty much a normal regular guy, only that he is a bit more gay than the others. So, is he implying that his sexuality is not normal? That is actually truly offensive. And there were more quotes like these that I had a problem with.

Coompletely aside, from the sexual note here, this is an extremely pretentious film where ambition and actual talent are miles away from each other. The scenes about the characters' younger years/childhoods were still better than the scenes in the present, but these old scenes were completely destroyed by extremely pompously pretentious voice-overs in the most poetic language that did not work at all with what we saw. These voice-overs came from lead actor Hofmann and while he looked physically fine, I believe that he was a bad casting decision as it was painful to watch him try so hard, but yet he just did not have the talent to really make the character work. And this is extremely disappointing as Hofmann is in basically every non-flashback scene from start to finish of a long movie. In reference to his love interest, I must say that this actor was also miscast. The final plot development slightly justified his casting, but not that much. About the girls, the sister and best friend, I feel that they did not have as much to work with as one may think looking at their stories, but they weren't convincing either.

The only somewhat decent performances come from Timoteo who makes a character work sometimes at least and as her character is written in a horribly cringeworthy manner, this is a success. Actually her last scene on the bed with her son was possibly the best acting moment from anybody in the entire film. Gersak is also decent, even if he also does not have as much screen-time or as good material as I hoped he would. But these two cannot save this film from being a disaster. The story and, to a lesser extent, performances of the young actors are just so underwhelming that this film cannot be saved. I could list 20 quotes for example, but luckily I have forgotten most of these already, which is pretty amazing. Lucky me. But I remember cringing at least a dozen times while watching this film. The music/soundtrack is not particularly good either. Lets just give one example of where the film screwed up completely. When they take a break from the gay-themed story towards the end, they just randomly rush in a sub-plot which includes basically the sister admitting that she secretly gave a poison to her mother, so that she would lose her unborn child and not only this happened, but she almost died from it. But hey, the main character is, as he says, from a family/background that is fairly normal. How about mentioning that your sister is a complete sociopath. And then the filmmakers/writers try to justify it by including completely random a story about a coma patient that the sister visits every day. These moments were maybe when the movie hit rock-bottom.

Aside from that, looking at the general plot idea. We have a gay protagonist. Another boy comes to his class. They fall in love and have sex under the shower. Then they have sex again. And again. And again. And then the other guy has sex with the boy' best friend. The best friend that is so so close with our hero and they would never do that to each other. The best friend that our hero does not even tell her that he is an item with the new guy. There is so so much in this film that doesn't make sense and honestly looking at how garbage the script is, the performances are still somewhat okay I guess. As a whole I must say the one thing that got wrong probably the most is how Erwa wanted us so much to like the characters, but I really disliked almost all of them, actually except the ones we were supposed to dislike, namely the best friend and the lover because they just wanted everything to stay that way as they were happy like that. But hey, you need to show us Hofmann's character being so strong when he interacts (or not interacts) with his former best friend and boyfriend. Enough said. This film is a contender for worst film I have seen all year and I have seen really many. I recommend you to stay far far away.

a young, vivid and reliable movie. very great!

[marcusz-77909 · 9/10 · 14 December 2016]

I saw this movie before i read the book and i have to say it was really really good.

At first i was a little bit annoyed about the half English - half German speaking mother, but when it came up she had an American heritage it wasn't so bad after all.

The characters in the movie were lovely and you could empathize with them in many ways. The main characters (Phi, Glass and Nicholas) were played very well. I loved the cut-scenes, which came up to show the emotions of Phil - and the music was also carefully chosen (Down by the River by Milky Chance).

The movie gives you a feel good vibe...lot of great pictures. The scenes from the childhood in a very nostalgic way.

The fact that it was a homosexual love story was, in my opinion, not the main setting of the movie. The homosexual setting was like every heterosexual setting in any other movie. It just was there. Was played beautifully. I recommend it to everyone! A high quality German/Austrian "young modern scenes" movie...wonderful and just as good as any American film.

A lovely film that I enjoyed.

[tonysloane · 9/10 · 20 July 2017]

I enjoyed it. I may be simple and I may be unable to understand the nuances that apparently abound, but for sheer entertainment for me, it was pleasing. So many of IMDb critics forget that they are watching a film that is designed to entertain. They go off on journey of esoteric criticisms that only the pompous and pretentious would understand. Sit back, open a beer and view it for what is was - just a film, and to me, an enjoyable one.

Great movie!

[everythingeverything-32054 · 25 November 2020]

Good acting, good story. Enjoyed the movie and would watch it again.

Beautiful movie with excellent actors

[paul31415 · 10/10 · 5 December 2021]

I watched this movie. Twice. Then I bought the book and now I'm reading it.

The movie does not capture the complexity of the characters and action of the book from what I have read so far. It couldn't, objectively.

However, this review is for the movie and not for its closeness to the book.

The movie itself is absolutely beautiful. The actors are ALL very very good.

Especially Louis Hofmann, around 19 at the time, delivers a breathtaking performance, which is a joy to watch. The precision of his acting is absolute. Look at his face and enjoy all the subtle nuances as they unfold second by second. This is not a teenager actor wannabe, this is star quality. His career took off nicely and I cannot wait to see him in other movies.

Schümann, Stappenbeck, Timoteo, everyone else, all spotless.

The soundtrack is also one of the best I have ever heard.

Such a pity German movies are usually underrated. This one is a true gem.

Can you be tearful?

[chrisjb66 · 10/10 · 27 November 2018]

This is a beautifully made film. Casting excellent, camerawork accomplished and a storyline guaranteed to warm the heart and perhaps produce a tear or two. Lost love...old story but still packs an emotional punch in the right hands.

È così così

[voodooduke · 5/10 · 24 February 2019]

It was kind of boring & shallow... I feel many of the characters feel into cliche little caricatures of people. The mom is wild, hip, cool, can't keep a man. Sister is brooding, detached, depressed, aloof. The main guy is sweet, naieve, sensitive. These things are fine, but as an audience you should be able to ascertain these things without heavy-handed dialogue, exposition, clothing, etc. And how many times must we see the little sweet innocent gay boy that falls for the hot emotionless jock? There's also a scene where something pivotal is revealed that should have garnered a more powerful reaction. Like I waited to see the characters hot that peak in the plot and really show some emotion and range... but no, not there.

Side note: why in movies do people just walk in to people's home or gated private property????

refreshing

[Kirpianuscus · 17 February 2018]

A film like a spring wind. warm, fresh, nice, refreshing. a story about love, life, teens, family. not perfect - to critic it becomes real temptanting - but having few good points - from atmosphere to actors. so, a nice film with few lovely scenes. sure, it could be better. but it is , from start, not the object of high expectations. for many reasons. first - it propose cut boys, eccentric feminine characters, a not awfull story and reasonable balancce between present and past. and something escaping from precise definition. a feeling, slices of pure, honest joy, memories and traits of storm, dialogues and relations who are pieces of a puzzle who could be more complex . but, it is a refreshing film. and this, for me, is the most important thing for me.

GOOD ONE.

[andrewchristianjr · 8/10 · 13 April 2021]

This is a very good coming of age movie. Great acting, great character development, great writing, thought provoking, and an original.

Amazing Cinematography,..Everything is just beautiful.

[andreichan · 10/10 · 13 August 2020]

Quick share.... this is the second coming-of-age movie that give me chills, first is CMBYN. I don't know what and how to write but I just thought this film is incredibly made by its cinematography, screenplay, acting, productions and etc. I just love how this movie shows about family, love, friends. Since the beginning, I was really excited about the make out scene, but it changed my mind. It's good how Phil reacted about "that" scene because if I was him I would've killed the b*tch and the *ssh*le. At the end, their family is okay and her sister too. And so, the ending was just.

Die Mitte der Welt Review

[felipepm17 · 8/10 · 11 July 2019]

I expected something from this movie, but it turned out to be a lot more than the trailer showed. A story full of perspectives and great characters. The thousands of flashbacks turned out to be a bit boring at the end and I do not know if the father's mystery needed to be remembered every 5 minutes. I think that, in the end the storm did not integrate much with the story (Diane's boyfriend might just have been run over). The worst friend of the year award goes to Kat who could not be more boring and annoying. I expected more from Nicholas, he had nothing to do and the "revelation" that he is a horder was very weak. Incredible performance by Louis as Phil, which is a role that gets increasingly more complex as the film progresses.

About characters and film

[linhk-46913 · 10/10 · 30 January 2019]

First, about Phil. Just awesome and a truely dramatic guy. Love him so much. Second, about Nicholas. I can't imagine what hes going to do next. So, awesome too and will be more handsome if he doesn't cheat on Phil. Finally, about Kat. Sorry but when I've just watched it. I wanna kill her. Because i can't understand why did she do that ?? F. Sorry again and I don't like Kat. About the film, it is amazing and hope in the future there will be films like this.

Too many useless scenes / dialogues. Message often unclear on back and forth b/w unrelated scenes

[tx-30948 · 2/10 · 6 June 2018]

Another film that ruins a good idea and materials. There are too many useless scenes / dialogues. For instance, who cares about whether the co-lead actor loves spaghetti or any other dish? Or seeing trivial actions such as walking, bicycling etc.. No one watches this movie for that purpose.

A lot of the scenes appear to exist only to justify and reach the nearly 2-hour film duration. But quantity is not quality.

The narrative process is often confusing and makes us wonder what the message is supposed to be. There is a lot of back and forth between scenes set at different times / showing totally different things, and the link between the two is unclear.

The co-lead (the non-manly one) does not appear empathic and friendly. When negative things happen to him, not only did I not feel sorry, but quite the opposite. This should not be the case...

Filming is also not that great, as often, the camera is slightly shaking. The focus on the characters' face to see their expressions is too often limited and short, preventing us from really connecting to the characters and understanding their feelings.

On the positive side, the co-lead (the manly guy) is really great to look at.