Seitensprung in den Tod (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

3.1/10   

Director:

Gabriel Barylli

Writers:

Holger Karsten Schmidt (writer) and
Clemens Berger (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 1997 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Melodrama | AIDS

Cast

Gabriel Barylli	...	Martin
Constanze Engelbrecht	...	Julia
Katja Weitzenböck	...	Corinna
Michael Gampe
Heinrich Schafmeister	...	Bernd
Rebecca Mosselman
Axel Milberg	...	Stefan
René Steinke
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jens Eulenberger	...	Randy

Also Known As:

Comforting Certainty of Death (International: English title)

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Company:

Sat.1

Devastating, poignant drama

This film is a little known German drama( made for TV), about a married man who has to face the consequences of one night with another woman.

Martin(played by director Barylli)is a happily married man, who's about to leave his work in Germany for a new job in a large concern in the States. His wife Julia(Engelbrecht)is more reluctant to moving to another country. Meanwhile, their 14-year old daughter meets her first boyfriend.

On a business trip to Berlin however, Martin has a one night stand with a beautiful woman(Weitzenböck) he met on the airport. They seem to agree that they had a great time, but that nothing further will come from this. The next morning, the woman is gone and the only thing she left was the number of the aids-phone and a message saying she was sorry. Martin starts to panic: has he or hasn't he got aids? What about his wife and daughter? Why he?

The film focuses on the weeks prior to the result of Martin's aids-test, on his fears, on the secrecy to his wife and daughter, on his problems at work,... It's not just another movie that shows us people dealing with their disease and with their inevitable death.

This works very well, not at least due to the very good acting by all involved. The film has some emotionally devastating scenes and gives us an insightful look in the lives of these characters. The only problem I have with the film is that it's sometimes too obvious that this was made for TV, especially near the end. There you have an intelligent drama which nearly avoids clichés and suddenly it seems like you're watching an episode of DERRICK or DIE SCHWARZWALDKLINIK. I do think this film should have been given a better chance. 8/10