"Die Vermessung der Welt" is written (adapted from Daniel Kehlmann's novel) and directed by Detlev Buck, one of Germany's most notable filmmakers these days and at the same time a very prolific and successful actor himself. Most recently, he worked on two children's films about the little witch Bibi Blocksberg.
Here the topic is slightly more serious though. We find out about the lives, achievements and struggles of notable Germans: explorer Alexander von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. The latter is played by Florian David Fitz, one of Germany's rising stars in recent years. If you are interested in German movies, you may have seen him on the two "Männerherzen" films or "Vincent will Meer". Humboldt is played by Albrecht Schuch (his voice reminded me of Christian Ulmen's) who is not as prolific and known as his counterpart. He is the younger brother from actress Karoline Schuch and has not appeared in theatrical releases since "Die Vermessung der Welt", only in some TV productions. I have to say that I found it a bit random how the movie was about both these men. There seemed to be hardly no connection early on. Obviously their final meeting sitting in prison together makes up for this issue a bit, but it still looks a bit random and maybe two films, one about each would have worked better. However, this does not mean that it was a weak film. I enjoyed it occasionally and it has good small supporting performances from Max Giermann, Katharina Thalbach and mostly Karl Markovics, who is a joy to watch in everything he is in. Matthias Schweighöfer plays a small part as well.
All in all, I felt the dialogs could have been a bit better. However, the costumes were nice and visually it was a good film. A bit style over substance though, even if I liked the way it portrayed Gauss' struggles with how he never got to meet people who were on his level intellectually, which almost drove him into suicide. The Immanuel Kant meeting scene was one of my favorites. Still I believe the topic was interesting enough to be the basis for a much better film than this actually turned out to be in the end. I felt it came a bit short on emotional levels. Still, I would recommend it to those with an interest in German cinema.
Here the topic is slightly more serious though. We find out about the lives, achievements and struggles of notable Germans: explorer Alexander von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. The latter is played by Florian David Fitz, one of Germany's rising stars in recent years. If you are interested in German movies, you may have seen him on the two "Männerherzen" films or "Vincent will Meer". Humboldt is played by Albrecht Schuch (his voice reminded me of Christian Ulmen's) who is not as prolific and known as his counterpart. He is the younger brother from actress Karoline Schuch and has not appeared in theatrical releases since "Die Vermessung der Welt", only in some TV productions. I have to say that I found it a bit random how the movie was about both these men. There seemed to be hardly no connection early on. Obviously their final meeting sitting in prison together makes up for this issue a bit, but it still looks a bit random and maybe two films, one about each would have worked better. However, this does not mean that it was a weak film. I enjoyed it occasionally and it has good small supporting performances from Max Giermann, Katharina Thalbach and mostly Karl Markovics, who is a joy to watch in everything he is in. Matthias Schweighöfer plays a small part as well.
All in all, I felt the dialogs could have been a bit better. However, the costumes were nice and visually it was a good film. A bit style over substance though, even if I liked the way it portrayed Gauss' struggles with how he never got to meet people who were on his level intellectually, which almost drove him into suicide. The Immanuel Kant meeting scene was one of my favorites. Still I believe the topic was interesting enough to be the basis for a much better film than this actually turned out to be in the end. I felt it came a bit short on emotional levels. Still, I would recommend it to those with an interest in German cinema.