That was an excellent one.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A Major Disappointment

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Set in Berlin during what appear to be the latter years of World War II, this movie follows the developing relationship between two women. Maria Schrader played Felice (Jaguar) a young Jewish woman who's also a lesbian, who meets up with Lilly Wust (or Aimee, played by Juliane Kohler) who's married to a German officer (and who's having an affair with another German officer.) The story of their relationship as it develops from cautious friendship into a full blown love affair is told in a non- sensationalistic way, and it manages to offer a glimpse of what life in Berlin might have been like during those desperate years.What I really liked about this movie was the fact that it avoided the opportunity to be exploitative on at least two fronts - both the Holocaust and lesbianism were simply a part of the story, but they weren't THE story. The story was about the relationship between the two, and seemed to focus far more on the emotional side of that relationship than on the sexual side. There's a minimal amount of nudity, but very little overt sexuality, so anyone looking for a soft-porn type of lesbian movie should look elsewhere. Both Aimee and Jaguar (as Lilly and Felice nicknamed themselves) come across as people struggling - as Berliners were in those days - to survive the madness of Nazi Germany. So it's a story of survival and perseverance; there's also a bit of a journey of self-discovery involved. The movie is told as a flashback. The movie opens with a reunion between Lily and her former maid Ilse (who was a part of the lesbian circle Felice was involved in) in the 1990's. The ending of the movie goes back to the "modern" conversation between Lilly and Ilse. To be honest, I wasn't sure that the movie needed to include those bookends - the story could have been told well enough without them.This is intriguing because it's a true story; Lilly Wust herself apparently vouched for its accuracy, and because it's different than most of the "set in Nazi Germany" stories you come across. Subtitles don't really appeal to me all that much, but the story is easy enough to follow, and hearing the original German you really do get a sense of the emotions of the characters as the story progresses. (7/10)

Juliane Kohler was so stunningly beautiful as Eva Braun in DOWNFALL that I just had to see this movie to see her in action once again.Unfortunately, this movie is no DOWNFALL. Instead of grinding terror and tension, there's only a faint sense of malaise. The destruction of the Nazi state is presented as faintly annoying background noise rather than a cataclysmic event. The real focus of the film is on two women drawn together by lust -- a Jewish bohemian and a placid German housewife. But the two doomed lovers never really seem truly passionate, nor is there any sense of danger and terror all around.Maybe this story would have worked better if it had been set in the Weimar Republic instead of Nazi Germany. Then all the high-living party scenes with the dazzling Jewish heroine showing off her wit and irreverence in public would be more believable. And the placid, oblivious blonde housewife would be easier to forgive for her bland submission.

There does exist an expression in the German language that describes this movie perfectly. It's "großes Kino". Literally translated it means "big cinema" and you use it for movies that are really grand: Grand in their structure, grand in emotion and grand in class. If any movie deserves this title then it's this one.The Plot: Berlin during WWII. We get an insight in the daily life of two complete different women who don't know each other. Lilly is young, married with four kids and because of this can afford a quite pleasant life (as Hitler was fond of mothers with many kids, they got more of everything than other families: more money, more food etc.). So while her husband is somewhere out there fighting the enemy, Lilly occasionally has affairs and while she has her fun with the men, a nanny is taking care of the kids. The other woman, also being quite young, is Felice. Felice is Jewish, works as a journalist for a newspaper and unlike Lilly has to daily cope with the fear of being discovered and transported to a KZ. As if it all were not enough, Felice is lesbian and enjoys life as much as possible in the circle of her (mostly lesbian) friends. Now, one day, Felice by chance sees Lilly in a theatre and almost instantly falls for her. Surprisingly enough Lilly loves her back and they begin an irresistible and passionate affair, which at the time and circumstances back there was like dancing on a volcano… Of course the film deals with WWII and the holocaust here but the best thing about it is that it's only done on the side. The plot concentrates on the two women, the two different worlds they live in and their feelings towards each other. It's all so intensive and it's not all about two suffering girls who lived in a horrible time and were not allowed to love each other, it's about two strong women with a lust for life who tried not to care too much about the Nazi regime, but to concentrate on seizing the day. After watching it you don't only feel for them, you admire them for having been so strong and courageous. But most of all you get to appreciate love and life again.A truly great film about a great love in times where this love seemed to be impossible. Based on true events.

There's a great new Billy Wilder movie out with all the hallmarks of Wilder at his blackest/drollest: Berlin, 1943/44. Lilly's husband is somewhere on the Eastern Front leaving her free to 'entertain' a succession of gentlemen callers in the afternoons and using the cash she makes to buy things for her four children. Somehow, though, that 'ol' upper-case Love keeps eluding her. Maybe she'll find it in the arms of Felice; by day an intrepid reporter, by night an activist in the underground - as in Resistance as opposed to U-bahn. Oh, yes, in a typical Wilder twist Felice is also slightly Jewish. There's only one problem. Billy Wilder has gone to the big sound stage in the sky and Max Faberbock wouldn't make even Clapper-Loader on a Wilder set. I'm aware of the glowing notices on this very board but somehow I can't share them. Where they see fantastic acting I see competent; where they see brilliant period detail I see cardboard cut outs. Maybe I'm hard to please.Yes, come to think of it I AM.