Die Apothekerin (1997)

Director:

Rainer Kaufmann

Writers:

Ingrid Noll (novel)
Ralf Hertwig (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 October 1997 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Eine Frau mit Risiken und Nebenwirkungen.

Plot:

Hella is around 30 and works in a pharmacy. She is waiting for the right man to step into her life, but as she has a certain affinity for losers...

Plot Keywords:

Dentist | Pharmacy | Poison | Inheritance | Irony

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Katja Riemann	...	Hella Moormann
Jürgen Vogel	...	Levin Graber
Richy Müller	...	Dieter Krosmansky
Isabella Parkinson	...	Margot Krosmansky
August Zirner	...	Pawel Siebert
Dagmar Manzel	...	Dorit Meissen
Andrea Sawatzki	...	Alma Siebert
Joachim Tomaschewsky	...	Hermann Graber
Daniele Legler	...	Gero
Eva Ingeborg Scholz	...	Gudrun Moormann
Friedrich von Thun	...	Rolf Moormann
Jan Gregor Kremp	...	Bob Moormann
Dominic Raacke	...	Kripobeamter
Christian Baus	...	Apotheken-Räuber
Maren Eggert	...	Kommillitonin

Also Known As:

The Pharmacist (USA)

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 (w)

Filming Locations:

Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Company:

Senator Film Produktion

Movie Connections:

Features "Derrick" (1974)

Made me look at the story from another point of view

Wow! This is the first time I find that a movie and the book it is based upon perfectly complement one another. I read Ingrid Noll's novel and I liked it but something disturbed me. Now I know what it is. The book had an unnecessary feminist undertone, it tried to demonstrate female power a bit too explicitly.

By leaving out the frame story with the old woman in hospital whom Hella tells her story to, this undertone disappears in Rainer Kaufmann's excellent film version. The two guys, Levin and Dieter, are still the losers, of course, and Hella is the triumphant but that alone doesn't make her out to be some female heroine. I was able to see the same story from a completely different point of view: as nothing else but simply a dark, cruel crime drama, full of suspense and some humour, not unauthentic but still rather un-German (in fact, German humour is not exactly what Austrians like).

Romantic comedy star Katja Riemann may have been a complete failure but she gives quite a convincing performance. Jürgen Vogel overacts a little bit, but for Richy Müller the perfectly unlikeable prole Dieter could have been his best role ever.

I don't know whether the movie was released in the United States and if it was kind of successful, but I'd like to recommend it to everybody. I think even Americans who don't normally like European movies could enjoy it. Only if you get sick easily, you should at least look away once or twice. There are some really disgusting scenes.