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Her joy is temporary, as her health rapidly deteriorates

Chronology

Lissy enjoys her husband Gerd’s decline in a home. Even Leo TOLSTOI knew that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. German film director Matthias Glasner has been awarded the Silver Bear at the 2024 Berlinale for his new film Dying. Lissy Lunies (Corinna Harfouch) and her husband Gerd (Hans Uwe BAUER) live in a small northern German town and are already severely affected by old age.

Both find it difficult to accept help

Their two children live far away and are greatly affected by their own problems. Son Tom (Lars EIDINGER) lives in Berlin and is reasonably successful as a conductor, but becomes hopelessly entangled in private squabbles. Daughter Ellen (Lilith STANGENBERG) lives in Hamburg and is so committed to an alcohol-soaked lifestyle that she wakes up in Latvia after a night of drinking. It’s true!

Illness and their own inadequacies

Both are confronted with their parents’ situation in different ways. The fact that the film does not become boring over its three-hour running time is thanks to the fantastic cast, which also includes Anna Bederke, Robert GWISDEK, Saerom Park, Saskia Rosendahl and Ronald Zehrfeld. The German actors Corinna Harfouch (nominated for the European Film Award in 1989 for Meeting in Travers) and Hans Uwe Bauer were awarded the German Film Prize of the Year 2024 for their great performances. The showdown at the coffee table between HARFOUCH and EIDINGER is one of the most impressive things to be seen in German cinema in recent years.

Yes and no

The Lunies family is unhappy in its own way. A melancholic film from the German-speaking world! Haven’t we seen enough of that already? Of course, as a cinema-goer you ask yourself whether this is typically German (or at least northern German) or whether it would be possible in other cultures.

But Matthias Glasner aims very high and takes inspiration from cinema greats such as Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini

After all, it is not for nothing that Tom Lunies likes to watch the four-hour TV version of Fanny and Alexander (1983) on Christmas Eve. And the character played by Robert GWISDEK (in real life, HARFOUCH’s son) reminds me at least of Steiner, played by Alain CUNY in LA DOLCE VITA (1959). But the way in which the story is so close to reality has a very special effect that is definitely worth exposing yourself to. Clearly recommended!