xmahlerx Throughout my life, I witnessed many movies which pushed boundaries of my definition of the worst movies ever created. I've seen The Turin Horse which was on top of my list of the most overrated and pretentious movies for a long time. That changed after I witnessed this piece of crap. Through the first half of the movie, I laughed my ass off thinking that it is a comedy mocking those movies which are stuffed with clichés from the beginning to the end. I wasn't the only one who laughed. Luckily. I haven't read the book (which is reportedly quite good)... that probably limitates me in many ways how to rate this movie. Also, the absence of zero in the IMDb's rating is a limitation as well. I am forced to rate it with one star.It is a spectacular piece of crap. Modern German cinematography once again has proved that it has very little to offer. Back to Sonnenalle.

ronchow Other reviews suggested this film was based on a French novel. If so, I have not read it and have no intention to. I watched this film strictly as a stand-alone entity, not knowing much about its background and its director, Oskar Roehler. I watched it out of a liking for international cinema, hoping I would land a good one. And I did.One can argue this is a serious film, on a popular subject: love and its impact on life. Apart from some minor 'imperfections', e.g. the physical resemblance of the brothers played by different actors portraying them in youth and adulthood, with one done right and the other out of whack, I find the film was very well done and it commanded my attention throughout all its 112 minutes.Perhaps it strikes a chord with intellectuals - one brother is a renowned physicist and the other an academic. It is a film that engages you and makes you think and try to get inside the minds of the protagonists, played as two half-brothers with entirely opposite life styles. One more likable than the other.I enjoyed this film greatly, and regarded it one of the few, memorable German films I have seen in recent years.

DaSchaust I enjoyed this adaptation way more than the book, which -- despite all the pseudo-intellectual hype that was raised about it -- was mainly about pornography, perversion, and a "philosophy" that can be formulated in short as: unless you are perfect, beautiful and brilliant, better kill yourself. And even if you are, there is ample reason to get depressed.By the way, it is not true that the director didn't try to talk to Houellebecq. But when he did the latter was seriously under drugs and hard to communicate with.In contrast, this film surely picked out some of the more digestible parts of the book and luckily didn't portray the characters as if they were only some of God's worst jokes. What came out was a beautiful and intelligent story about life, human relationships, and the choices that we face between keeping up love even under difficult conditions or, instead, going the seemingly easy way and losing everything.If that doesn't sound depressing enough for you, better go and buy the book...

jan0 OK, so I haven't actually caught any comedy films this year, but I was expecting this to be bleak and unfunny. Instead, myself, my squeeze and most of the audience were bursting out laughing. Never mind the continuity error - if the gravedigger doesn't have you in stitches, then you probably need his skills. This certainly passes the Kermode comedy test! I liked the acting by the tongue tied Michael (Christian Ulmen), who can hardly speak to an audience of his scientific peers, let alone the love of his life. A great deal is conveyed through facial expressions in this film, with one of the best coming from psychiatrist Dr. Schäfer (Corinna Harfouch). The childhood and adolescent scenes get top marks, the younger actors are convincing versions of their older counterparts.The direction concentrates on that staple of comedy: the stereotype. So the scenes when repressed, reactionary Bruno arrives at the New Age summer camp are certainly predictable, but still genuinely funny, as they unfold, more or less to expectation. The science at the Irish Rosslyn Institute lookalike is just as whacky as the ideas at the summer camp, so I wonder why the director didn't make more of it? Still, at least he showed us how well the cows understand scientists.I'm giving this eight rather than seven points, for defying my expectations from the synopsis.