"Ein Sommer im Burgenland", which means "A Summer in Burgenland", is a television film from 2015, so this one has its fifth anniversary this year already. It premiered in January, so the anniversary happened earlier in 2020. Also this is an Austrian production, which surprises me a bit honestly, but also makes kinda sense becaue the film is set in Austria as you can see from the title. Still with the cast and filmmakers' background, I expected at least a German/Austrian co-production. And actually there are several "Ein Sommer in"/"A summer in" films out there, also in more exotic countries and I have seen some of them they are almost always German productions I think. Anyway, this one is of course still in the German language, so you can understand it if you are a native. There are also not really many people with Austrian accents in here. The director is Karola Meeder and she is German too and boy, her filmpgraphy could not be any more terrible really. She worked on several of these "A summer in" films, a great deal of Inga Lindström adaptations, some Rosamunde Pilcher and mostg recently "Traumschiff". It really could not be any worse. And she is "only" in her mid50s now, so who knows what else may come. My vote goes out to early retirement because there will most likely never come a quality project from this woman. I know writers are more to blame for the quality of the story of a movie, but nobody forced her to accept all these directing jobs, so no mercy here. There are two writers here, Alrun Fichtenbauer and Astrid Ströher. Their bodies of work may not be good, but they are also not as bad as the directors, overall still on the weak side. With two writers, I always kinda hope they find each other's mistakes and this way improve the overall quality of the story and consequently movie itself, but here this was not the case at all. The duo confirmed their absence of talent instead and brought out the worst in each other. As for the cast, the big name is the actress you see on the photo here: the late Hannelore Elsner. I am honestly a bit surprised that she is not the only one on the pic because it was never gonna be anything other than a one-person show with her in this film, even if they rushed in small other stories including other characters that are still linked to Elsner's. Nonetheless I am surprised by how there is not a single other known name in the cast here. Even her male co-lead and love interest (of course!) is not a super established actors, which you can see by the fact that he does not even have a birthday here on imdb. Same applies to pretty much the entire supporting cast. Not the birthday thing, but that they are really nobodies that not even German film buffs will recognize.
Now a few words on the film itself, a handful of scenes and inclusions that turn the outcome into a big mess in the negative sense. It is just poor writing all along, already how Elsner's character will not get in the hotel she picked a romm with, so she has to get closer to nature away from the tourist spot and of course also meet the "man of her dreams". That was honestly the worst. He is like 15 years younger, which is already difficult to believe honestly that he could show an interest in Elsner's character then. Well, the actor is younger as later on they really try to convince us the characters are roughly the same age here because they were childhood friends and he took care of her back then already. It is a joke honestly. Elsner is obviously not in her late 50s in this film. Besides, obviously, the male character prefers Elsner's character over a woman 10 years younger than him. Sigh. It is all so absurd. And don't even get me started about the quote coming from this other female character about how good he is in bad. She is a vulgar woman, Elsner is a classy woman. That is all you take from this scene. Of course, Elsner is still playing hard to get here, hey she is too good to go all in and be ambitious herself when it comes to getting together with a man. She is so amazing that the fella has to work for her. But of course, the two lovebirds get together in the end and the other woman also is seen as likable again with how she helps with the birth. So yeah, the (former) girlfriend of Elsner's character's son is pregnant, so Elsner's character is about to become a grandma here. And while the guy is far away for the most time, Elsner's character is there and the pregnant woman is annoyed by her and eventually still realizes what an amazing mother-in-law she would make. Very fittingly, as I just said, the baby comes also right on time to create some more pseudo drama and show us Elsner's character as a woman who can take care of things as she helps her when the baby is about to come. Honestly, the only thing missing was Elsner acting as a midwife and delivering the baby all on her own. It is all so absurd and unrealistic. Another pseudo dramatic story includes the story about her own family background. She finds out that she is a Roma herself when she has a breakdown and remembers Austrian kids bullying her back in the day because of that. So ridiculous. It makes no sense at all that she finds out now all of a sudden and Elsner's acting in this specific scene was so poor that I have no words. Honestly, I felt it was an insult to Sinti and Roma really being discriminated against. Keep in mind that all this never would have happened had she stayed in the hotel. Maybe she should send a letter to thank the hotel employee who messed up. Anyway, another thing is young men constantly showing up to support Elsner's character, be it the one in the car or the one in the end saying she must return to pass her surfing test. Yep, Elsner's character is also so young at heart that this is what she does, mostly to get in tough with the pregnant girl, but still. Okay that is pretty much it then. Oh wait, I almost forgot about the storks. They were really a prime example on how to mess up symbolisms and foreshadowing in a movie, be it the first scene when the desirable guy apparently treats an injured stork or just makes sure they can locate him or be it the scene later when Elsner talks to a stork, even gives him a name when he is getting pretty close to her. Still the storks are beautiful, something you cannot say at all about a single component from this film. It is all terrible, most of all Elsser's full-of-itself performance how she gets one with nature, the dancing sequence, how she goes over the top when proving she can speak Hungarian etc. And most of all the revelations about who she really is and how people had no clue, but should have known right away. Herzkino at its trashiest. Unbearable to take. Like I said, I have seen several "Ein Sommer in" films before, but this has to be one of the very worst. Highly not recommended and if I gave ones, then I probably would here. By the way, in contrast to Elsner, Erni Mangold is still alive now as I am writing this being deep into her 90s. But obviously this is not something you should consider when watching this film. Actually, you should not watch at all. Shocking thing is that it probably will still be on national television for years to come. Your GEZ money at work. And you know who should be even more ashamed than those maing crappy films like this? Those who give awards to them. Unreal.
Now a few words on the film itself, a handful of scenes and inclusions that turn the outcome into a big mess in the negative sense. It is just poor writing all along, already how Elsner's character will not get in the hotel she picked a romm with, so she has to get closer to nature away from the tourist spot and of course also meet the "man of her dreams". That was honestly the worst. He is like 15 years younger, which is already difficult to believe honestly that he could show an interest in Elsner's character then. Well, the actor is younger as later on they really try to convince us the characters are roughly the same age here because they were childhood friends and he took care of her back then already. It is a joke honestly. Elsner is obviously not in her late 50s in this film. Besides, obviously, the male character prefers Elsner's character over a woman 10 years younger than him. Sigh. It is all so absurd. And don't even get me started about the quote coming from this other female character about how good he is in bad. She is a vulgar woman, Elsner is a classy woman. That is all you take from this scene. Of course, Elsner is still playing hard to get here, hey she is too good to go all in and be ambitious herself when it comes to getting together with a man. She is so amazing that the fella has to work for her. But of course, the two lovebirds get together in the end and the other woman also is seen as likable again with how she helps with the birth. So yeah, the (former) girlfriend of Elsner's character's son is pregnant, so Elsner's character is about to become a grandma here. And while the guy is far away for the most time, Elsner's character is there and the pregnant woman is annoyed by her and eventually still realizes what an amazing mother-in-law she would make. Very fittingly, as I just said, the baby comes also right on time to create some more pseudo drama and show us Elsner's character as a woman who can take care of things as she helps her when the baby is about to come. Honestly, the only thing missing was Elsner acting as a midwife and delivering the baby all on her own. It is all so absurd and unrealistic. Another pseudo dramatic story includes the story about her own family background. She finds out that she is a Roma herself when she has a breakdown and remembers Austrian kids bullying her back in the day because of that. So ridiculous. It makes no sense at all that she finds out now all of a sudden and Elsner's acting in this specific scene was so poor that I have no words. Honestly, I felt it was an insult to Sinti and Roma really being discriminated against. Keep in mind that all this never would have happened had she stayed in the hotel. Maybe she should send a letter to thank the hotel employee who messed up. Anyway, another thing is young men constantly showing up to support Elsner's character, be it the one in the car or the one in the end saying she must return to pass her surfing test. Yep, Elsner's character is also so young at heart that this is what she does, mostly to get in tough with the pregnant girl, but still. Okay that is pretty much it then. Oh wait, I almost forgot about the storks. They were really a prime example on how to mess up symbolisms and foreshadowing in a movie, be it the first scene when the desirable guy apparently treats an injured stork or just makes sure they can locate him or be it the scene later when Elsner talks to a stork, even gives him a name when he is getting pretty close to her. Still the storks are beautiful, something you cannot say at all about a single component from this film. It is all terrible, most of all Elsser's full-of-itself performance how she gets one with nature, the dancing sequence, how she goes over the top when proving she can speak Hungarian etc. And most of all the revelations about who she really is and how people had no clue, but should have known right away. Herzkino at its trashiest. Unbearable to take. Like I said, I have seen several "Ein Sommer in" films before, but this has to be one of the very worst. Highly not recommended and if I gave ones, then I probably would here. By the way, in contrast to Elsner, Erni Mangold is still alive now as I am writing this being deep into her 90s. But obviously this is not something you should consider when watching this film. Actually, you should not watch at all. Shocking thing is that it probably will still be on national television for years to come. Your GEZ money at work. And you know who should be even more ashamed than those maing crappy films like this? Those who give awards to them. Unreal.
