"Der Hochzeitswalzer" is a German television film from 2008, so this one is already over a decade old and like the vast majority of German small screen releases, it runs for 1.5 hours. The translation basically means "The Wedding Waltz" and this sounds almost better than the German title, maybe you can cut the "almost" even. And maybe you can cut the "maybe" too. Okay enough of that. I just think the German title really sounds like an old movie from the 1950s or 1960s what we call "Heimatfilm" here in my country, maybe even older in fact. Anyway I cannot say too much about the director Katzenberger (certainly not related to Daniela) and writer Hertneck, bit looking at their bodies of work both weren't rookies, but also not really prolific when this was made. And honestly the writer's body of work includes quite a few projects that are not high prestige gently-speaking like Lindenstraße, Utta Danella or just schmaltzy romance films. The director's looks a bit better. But this film here is certainly not the brightest career moment for anybody for everybody who worked on it. This includes the people behind the camera, but also the cast because even if admittedly the fish is rotten from the head and the head is the script in this case, they still did not manage to elevate the material and also they could have declined the offer to appear in this one. Chiara Schoras is the lead actress playing a workaholic musician and she is quite attractive. Stephan Luca has been in many films like this one here and it is rather difficult to say anything about him here, maybe also that he is fairly handsome, but acting-wise not exactly a revelation. Zirner, Weisgerber and Lerchbaumer are all three really established actors with nice recognition value, but here their parts are simply not good enough and they do not have the material to turn this into a better film overall.
Let me give you a few specific moments and scenes that turn this film not just into a weak watch, but a failure basically. The bouquet scene that the protagonists catch it has really been done often enough now. You know from minute 1 the two end up as a couple, so the film is extremely predictable. Her having another guy that she obviously not loves, at least not as much as Luca's character does not really say something positive about her. She always could have stayed single. The talk (mostly by her mother) about how romantic relationships have such a heavy impact on her daughter's emotional state are not exactly high-quality script writing either. The usual pseudo drama about how she wants to forget everything after they kissed (which obviously she doesn't) felt pretty cringeworthy immediately, especially the argument "I am a musician and you are a cook", different worlds etc. Of course, he is not just a cook, but really a very gifted food artist you could almost say, but also an enfant terrible with his own demons as he keeps stepping away from his job apparently, but he is too good to be let go and they always take him back when he wants it. And he wants it here mostly to be in the company of his new love interest. And well, the two at the wedding of his former girlfriend is a big mess from beginning to end. I mentioned the bouquet scene already. Also that Weisgerber's character is so strictly against the relationship and boom near the end she approves of it because she realizes it is true love. Who cares about her attitude in the hour before that. or also that, away from the two protagonists, Lerchbaumer's and Weisgerber's character get their own at least implied future romantic relationship. I mean they really need to shove complete happiness into our faces and who cares about relism right. By the way, Lerchbaumer (nice name) reminded me a bit of Heinz Baumann here, even if the latter is obviously a lot older. And back to the lead duo, the big finale with him having to be there in order for her to play a good concert. Absolute ridiculous. Okay I guess you got the basics now. This is not a good film. This is not even a weak film. Just a plain bad film. It is still showing on television here and there in the afternoon despite its age and quality and I wonder why. Even for that slot, it is not good enough. Also with how much food and music (even in the title) are in the center of the film here, I am pretty surprised that these 2 areas were elaborated on so convincingly. There was not a single scene or shot that made me hungry and the music was just so-so and I am somebody who really loves classical music. So no matter which perspective you take, the only verdict here is: Don't watch. Keep your distance at any cost. Highly not recommended.
Let me give you a few specific moments and scenes that turn this film not just into a weak watch, but a failure basically. The bouquet scene that the protagonists catch it has really been done often enough now. You know from minute 1 the two end up as a couple, so the film is extremely predictable. Her having another guy that she obviously not loves, at least not as much as Luca's character does not really say something positive about her. She always could have stayed single. The talk (mostly by her mother) about how romantic relationships have such a heavy impact on her daughter's emotional state are not exactly high-quality script writing either. The usual pseudo drama about how she wants to forget everything after they kissed (which obviously she doesn't) felt pretty cringeworthy immediately, especially the argument "I am a musician and you are a cook", different worlds etc. Of course, he is not just a cook, but really a very gifted food artist you could almost say, but also an enfant terrible with his own demons as he keeps stepping away from his job apparently, but he is too good to be let go and they always take him back when he wants it. And he wants it here mostly to be in the company of his new love interest. And well, the two at the wedding of his former girlfriend is a big mess from beginning to end. I mentioned the bouquet scene already. Also that Weisgerber's character is so strictly against the relationship and boom near the end she approves of it because she realizes it is true love. Who cares about her attitude in the hour before that. or also that, away from the two protagonists, Lerchbaumer's and Weisgerber's character get their own at least implied future romantic relationship. I mean they really need to shove complete happiness into our faces and who cares about relism right. By the way, Lerchbaumer (nice name) reminded me a bit of Heinz Baumann here, even if the latter is obviously a lot older. And back to the lead duo, the big finale with him having to be there in order for her to play a good concert. Absolute ridiculous. Okay I guess you got the basics now. This is not a good film. This is not even a weak film. Just a plain bad film. It is still showing on television here and there in the afternoon despite its age and quality and I wonder why. Even for that slot, it is not good enough. Also with how much food and music (even in the title) are in the center of the film here, I am pretty surprised that these 2 areas were elaborated on so convincingly. There was not a single scene or shot that made me hungry and the music was just so-so and I am somebody who really loves classical music. So no matter which perspective you take, the only verdict here is: Don't watch. Keep your distance at any cost. Highly not recommended.
