Un jour, nous nous raconterons tout

In the shimmering summer of 1990, two German states still existed. The WÄHRUNGSUNION (monetary union) has just been completed, and it should still be three months before the WIEDERVEREINIGUNG (reunification). 18-year-old Maria (Marlene BUROW) lives with her boyfriend of the same age on his parents farm, somewhere in the Thuringian countryside. Life there still seems very archaic, like it might have been in the 1950s. Maria lives for the day, skips school and reads THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV. The relationship with her mother (Jördis TRIEBEL), who lives in the neighboring village, seems to be somewhat clouded. Only the encounter with 40-year-old Henner (Felix KRAMER), who lives alone on a neighboring farm, breaks Maria out of her lethargy. It is the beginning of a passionate amour fou that crosses many boundaries. The taciturn yet charismatic man reveals an irritating mix of vulnerability and brutality to which Maria feels magically drawn. Disappointed certainties of life and the premonition of coming changes erupt into intoxicating sexuality...

The impressive film by director Emily ATEF (born 1973), based on Daniela KRIENs (born 1975) bestseller of the same name (published in 2011), paints an apt portrait of this very special summer. The shimmering heat of 1990, the overarching upheaval and the reversal of all previous certainties are brought to the big screen in a congenial and powerful way.

This film is a great artistic achievement, and not just for the otherwise often lifeless German-speaking cinema! A masterpiece created under the Thuringian sun that can tell a lot about German-German spiritual landscapes!

An achingly beautiful tale of a young woman torn between two lovers. She finds in each what the other doesn't provide. Gorgeous cinematography, top notch acting. And authentically captures the emotional seesaw of being a young adult, wanting safety/security but also wanting to explore the new and different.

It's nothing new but it is exceptionally well done. It takes place in rural East Germany, just at the time of reunification. Maybe that's symbolic, as life is about to change drastically but in the moment, the East was still 40 years behind West Germany.

I have not read the source novel, so I cannot compare-contrast the film to book.

A dirty and old(ish), somewhat unattractive brute starts advancing on the local 17 year old beauty. Unfortunately for everybody, he gives off a major rapey vibe. Their first meeting is literally him groping her without consent.

Since her boyfriend is very goofy, she eventually gives in to the brute and allows him to take her very roughly and a borderline sexually abusive affair ensues.

It's a German movie, so this counts as a romantic comedy.

The lack of diversity is fine. This is set in early 90's East Germany and people of colour and the disabled obviously hadn't been invented yet.

The cinematographer needs a big raise though.

The insultingly low overall IMDb score does this new, fresh, yet classic feeling German film great injustice, as it is a meticulously craftet cinematic tale, that will mesmerize and move those who still have the sensibility and patience to respond to well-crafted art: the art of cinematic storytelling.

I can find no flaws in this gorgeous film: not in the script, not in the actors, not in the cinematography, not in the locations, not in the music. It felt like it was was a classic tale, yet new and fresh, and hot like the hight of summer. This film is a simmering pastoral tale of love and pain, well worth seeing.

... a twenty-something Marlene Burow is the only reason watching this quickly-gets-to-being-boring movie... a seemingly-intelligent-teenager being attracted to abusive-sex with a forty-year-old farmer is a far stretch... a dramatic ending relieves viewers of all nonsensical-possibilities

... when watching a beautiful young woman having sex gets boring, you know the film has lost it's core-interest.. all the East-West reunification symbolism gets gibberished... it's a film that wants viewers to think more about other things, but then directs them to sex-scenes again and again... well made, just not-well-written-directed.