Und morgen mittag bin ich tot (2013) Reviews

• The last great journey

  dbdumonteil2015-06-06

  This difficult subject was treated in France the precedent year:in "Quelques Heures De Printemps" ,starring Vincent Lindon and Hélène Vincent ,a terminally -ill (brain tumor) woman chooses assisted suicide in Switzerland.... .....as does Lea in " Und Morgen Mittag Bin Ich Tot";but there is a big difference between the two works: in the French movie,it concerned a woman nearing seventy whereas this one tells the story of a Young girl (23) whose life has hardly begun."Quelques Heures De Printemps " ,although by no means an easy film to Watch, ended almost peacefully,as though the woman was relieved to lay her burden down. Léa is not so self-assured ;she still clings to the tree of life,which makes sense when you are a pretty girl with a nice family (the grandma is particularly endearing;you may notice her "Bis Bald " (=see you soon),although there is absolutely no hint at religion and at life after life) and a legitimate desire to love and to be loved (sadly the male parts ,particularly the ambassador's son ,are the weakest link of the screenplay).We see her enjoy a ride (with splendid views of the lake at night ),and eat a Wiener Schnitzel ("my last one!" three simple words which hurt the viewer). If you have seen "Quelques Heures De Printemps",you will compare the final sequences:as I wrote above ,in the 2012 movie,all happens ,so to speak, quickly;but we feel that Lea ,although living on borrowed time,could easily be persuaded to come back home ;in these sequences Bibliani Beglau ("Die Stille Nach Dem Schuss") ,provides remarkable support. Liv Liza Fries will move you ,without falling into the trap of sentiment and self-pity;I would recommend this work ,but only for people with a strong heart;Lea's breath will haunt you long after the final cast and credits.

  More

• Very strong lead performance and good script

  Horst_In_Translation2015-06-20

  This two-year-old movie is the first theatrical release for writer and director Frederik Steiner. He did some television work before and a couple short films and this proved good practice. With the script he got help from two other writers and often it is the case that too many cooks spoil the broth, but not here. It all works out nicely. But the main reason is Liv Lisa Fries, who gives a quietly convincing portrayal of a young woman who is terminally ill and decides to commit medically-assisted suicide. However, the rest of the cast was good as well, for example the actress who played her mother. Even if there are no really big names in here, almost everybody does a decent job. Bibiana Beglau and Lena Stolze are maybe the most known cast members. The latter played the lead role in the Academy Award nominated movie "Das schreckliche Mädchen" several decades ago. The only cast member who did nothing for me was Max Hegewald. Actually, I could have done without his character entirely, but hey it can't all be perfect. In my opinion this movie starts solid and the first hour is not bad at all, but not great either. The real strength of the film, however, is the last half hour. Tragedy is about to happen and you really feel for the girl and wonder if she will do what she plans to or maybe decide not to in the last minute. I will not give any spoilers, only say that the decisive last scenes of this film are pretty memorable and it's almost impossible to not be touched by these. This movie certainly made me interested in the next projects by Fries and Steiner. I recommend watching it and if you liked it, I also recommend another recent movie: "Hin und Weg" from 2014. This one has a pretty similar topic with one main difference that the central character is male here and he is also a bit older than Fries' character here. Both wonderfully heartbreaking films. The only thing I do not completely like (apart from Hegewald) here is the film's title. It is a bit too baity and showy for my taste and they should have gone a bit more subtle in my opinion. As they managed so greatly in the movie. If you get your hands on a copy, give it a go. You will probably not regret it.

  More