Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade, 2016)

[Black Hat]

Bravo to Maren Ade, I can't recall ever laughing as much out of nowhere as I did here in Toni Erdmann. Almost every laugh was a 'wait, did that really just happen?' moment. It's father daughter story is partly autobiographical, but also rooted in films like Late Spring or 35 Shots of Rum, but it's focus isn't on the daughter leaving the nest as it is about what happens a few years down the line that I found unique to my cinema viewing experience. It's no coincidence the film takes place mostly in Romania and certainly has a lot to say about EU politics, not shy at all about subtly and not so subtly criticizing the age of Angela Merkel. It deftly covers gender dynamics, outright sexism in the business world by subversively using female sexuality to lampoon men. I could see viewers unfamiliar with consulting finding parts of the film ridiculous, but the depiction of the lifestyle of this mostly secretive world is incredibly accurate — consulting is full of hard to believe ridiculous situations that belie the level of influence they have on how our world operates.

Peter Simonischek playing the father in the role of Erdmann is excellent. He never becomes a sad clown figure instead he is who he is and you appreciate as well as enjoy him for that. This I think is essentially one of the lessons of the film, embrace who you are. The daughter played by Sandra Hüller is also outstanding. Her struggle is palpable, written on her face, seen thru her walk, in glances with her lover, but as so many of us do in our professions she doesn't give in. The convergence of her confidently spoken lines fighting back against her stressed facial expressions, utterly drained body language is a master class of acting. The supporting players in films like this can easily be relegated to filler, ways of producing exposition or comic relief, but each one here has an important role. In a sense what's most clever about Ade's direction is we learn more about Erdmann and his daughter's characters, their relationship thru the supporting cast. What this accomplishes is a freedom between Simonischek & Hüller to explore what their characters are experiencing in the present, not what led them here.

It's a brilliant work. The kind of film you can leave in your home video player morning after morning to watch as you get ready to start your day.

***

Has anyone seen any of Ade's other films? I see she's co produced Miguel Gomes' recent films (Arabian Nights & Tabu). She's a great talent and I eagerly anticipate her next film.

Also has anybody seen Requiem? Someone at the presser lavishly complimented the film and Hüller's performance to the sound of applause from a few audience members.

[JamesF]

For obvious reasons I'll defer from giving my full opinion (though I genuinely did think it was wonderful), but just to add for anyone who missed it that Soda are releasing this in the UK on February 3rd next year. It screens at the London Film Festival as the Laugh Gala film on Saturday.

Coincidentally, we also released Requiem on DVD back in the day too!

[Black Hat]

That's interesting Maren told me it's getting a theatrical release in the UK in January, is that not happening or is it going to be a quick turn around to home video?

[JamesF]

That's interesting Maren told me it's getting a theatrical release in the UK in January, is that not happening or is it going to be a quick turn around to home video?

No, we're releasing it in UK cinemas on February 3rd

[Black Hat]

That's awesome. I hope it does great!

[repeat]

Has anyone seen any of Ade's other films?

Yes, they are both excellent. I think both should be available for streaming on Amazon if you're in the States. I haven't seen Toni Erdmann yet, but it's been nice to see that it has gotten people interested in the earlier films (not that Everyone Else wasn't widely noticed, but Forest seems a bit obscure still: it's quite a feat of low-budget filmmaking, but first and foremost a really great film).

[zedz]

Also has anybody seen Requiem? Someone at the presser lavishly complimented the film and Hüller's performance to the sound of applause from a few audience members.

I found Requiem a little bit by-the-numbers (harrowing true story, standard issue intimate handheld camerawork and narrative elisions), but it was certainly powerful, and Huller was absolutely sensational: by far the best thing about the film.

SpoilerShow

It's the tale of an isolated young girl whose upbringing conditions her to accept that her epilepsy is in fact demonic possession, with predictably horrific consequences. This is manifested when she moves away from her family to university, where there are supportive friends trying to persuade her to seek proper medical assistance, so the film sadistically taunts the audience with the prospect of Michaela escaping from the middle ages. EDIT: I just checked the imdb synopsis and it reminded me that even one of the priests tries to persuade her not to undergo exorcism, to no avail.

It's not a horror movie, but a family drama.

[hearthesilence]

I didn't know about her until I caught the great word-of-mouth on Everyone Else at the very end of the New York Film Festival that year. I had to wait some months before it finally opened in NYC at IFC, and I took a few friends who knew nothing of the film and just put their blind faith into it based on my anticipation - we all loved it. One of them even texted me out of the blue days later just to tell me they were still thinking of it. (I believe it was also held over for quite some time at IFC.) I told everyone I knew to see it but to my sore disappointment, it didn't get much distribution outside of New York. In Chicago it played three NON-CONSECUTIVE evenings at the Gene Siskel Center and that was it. (Didn't help that J.R. Jones hated the film and I'm not sure the other major Chicago papers even covered it.)

Anyway, long story short, I've been hoping to see more from Ade ever since, so I'm elated by this one.

(And FWIW, my favorite anecdote about Everyone Else comes from Kent Jones - he caught it at another festival with Claire Denis and halfway through it, he asked her "is this as great as I think it is?" and she nodded enthusiastically.)

[mfunk9786]

LQ and I are going to have a very, very busy schedule at the Philadelphia Film Festival's opening weekend - attempting to catch this, Personal Shopper, Manchester by the Sea, and The Handmaiden back-to-back-to-back-to-back with little to no time in-between. Luckily the longest film will be kicking things off!

[Black Hat]

Has anyone seen any of Ade's other films?

Yes, they are both excellent. I think both should be available for streaming on Amazon if you're in the States. I haven't seen Toni Erdmann yet, but it's been nice to see that it has gotten people interested in the earlier films (not that Everyone Else wasn't widely noticed, but Forest seems a bit obscure still: it's quite a feat of low-budget filmmaking, but first and foremost a really great film).

Forest is the one available for Prime Subscribers. Also someone has uploaded Requiem on youtube.

LQ and I are going to have a very, very busy schedule at the Philadelphia Film Festival's opening weekend - attempting to catch this

Definitely check it out as its not coming out in New York until Christmas Day.


I could see someone maybe not liking it that much, a friend felt it was too long and the ending mundane, but it boggles my mind that George Miller was as against it as reported from Cannes. Would love to hear his argument.

[repeat]

I have to say I find the practically unanimous consensus on Toni a bit worrying - if everyone likes what you're doing, you're usually doing something wrong! (I have seen/heard only three people voice contrary opinions on the film, interestingly enough all of them compatriots of the director).

I haven't seen Schmid's Requiem but while on the topic of the amazing Sandra Hüller, the film of hers you all should see is Brownian Movement (Nanouk Leopold, 2010). Absolutely incredible performance, heartwrenching film. She's also in Madonnen (2005) by Maria Speth, a very good director, but I haven't seen that particular film. (And Finsterworld of course!)

[chetienne]

Richard Brody for one has expressed his dislike of the film. With apologies to the man, whom I've met only once and who seems like a nice person, I usually find that if he doesn't like what you're doing, you're usually doing something right.

I just saw this two days ago and was fairly overwhelmed. I think it's one of the very best films of the decade so far. And I would place it in the company of films like CARLOS, THE TREE OF LIFE, and THE MASTER in terms of the momentousness of both scale and intimacy it manages to achieve.

[hearthesilence]

No film is without detractors, and also think about it this way, this didn't get ANY awards at Cannes despite the word-of-mouth. What does that tell you?

[JabbaTheSlut]

A very nice, touching, small scale film. Overhyped. I enjoyed it , but I was not overwhelmed by it. Cinematically very modest: basic handheld pointing-at-the-actors visual storytelling. Script and acting are the strongest parts of the film.

[zedz]

A very nice, touching, small scale film. Overhyped. I enjoyed it , but I was not overwhelmed by it. Cinematically very modest: basic handheld pointing-at-the-actors visual storytelling. Script and acting are the strongest parts of the film.

I'm in the same boat as you. I think it's been way overrated, which is probably down to various Cannes greenhouse effects combining, but it's a funny and enjoyable film. Huller is great, and my main issue with it, which is hardly fatal, is that the father seems much more of a plot device than a fully realized character.

[chetienne]

For sure, it is modest as far as visual style goes, but I think to focus on that as some sort of lack is to miss the proper beauty of the film. There is an extraordinary level of attentiveness and restraint to Ade's regard in TONI. On the one hand, that's a matter of camerawork and editing that always respect the moment that is evolving before our eyes. On the other, it's a matter of a screenplay that refuses to take even standard shortcuts to hit its points. At no point, does any hand-of-god logic, whether in the form of particular plot dynamics or particular schemes of composition or montage, assert itself to steer things more quickly toward some inevitable end. Instead, you have a deep, abiding trust in the actors, coupled with a refusal to allow them even momentary transcendence of the discomfort of a given situation, and deepened by a wry, alert sense for the banal absurdities of self-presentation that dominate far too much of our lives. So while it isn't Hitchcock, it's filmmaking of a high order of discipline all the same.

I also disagree that the father is a device. It's true that somewhere around the halfway point the film shifts its center of gravity to Ines, and our sense of who Winfried truly is, and what in particular motivates his flights into Toni Erdmann, obscure to begin with, recedes even further, but there's a surfeit of suggestive detail in Simonischek's characterization and the constellation of relationships Ade builds around him in the opening section, from his ex-wife to his mother to Ines herself.

[hearthesilence]

I have to say, I'm a bit wary of dismissing it on visual grounds as well. I understand the sentiment - there are a lot of films now that rely on handheld cameras for a lazy and unimaginative pseudo-documentary ("realistic") look - but it would be short sighted to knock the entire approach in general, because there are films that demand that approach. It suits the freedom in the performances alone of Everyone Else, not to mention many of Cassavetes films.

[Fiery Angel]

A very nice, touching, small scale film. Overhyped. I enjoyed it , but I was not overwhelmed by it. Cinematically very modest: basic handheld pointing-at-the-actors visual storytelling. Script and acting are the strongest parts of the film.

I'm in the same boat as you. I think it's been way overrated, which is probably down to various Cannes greenhouse effects combining, but it's a funny and enjoyable film. Huller is great, and my main issue with it, which is hardly fatal, is that the father seems much more of a plot device than a fully realized character.

I felt the same way as both of you. It seemed that Ade was trolling her own film with the father's character, especially in two important appearances that made no dramatic or psychological sense. Also, for 160 minutes I never believed that these two had even met before the film started, let alone actually were father and daughter, however estranged. Of course, I didn't think much of Everyone Else, either, so maybe I just don't "get" Ade.

Someone after the NYFF press screening said there should be a drinking game based on each time the father puts in or takes out his false teeth. (I would have been passed out after an hour.)

[hearthesilence]

the father seems much more of a plot device than a fully realized character

never believed that these two had even met before the film started, let alone actually were father and daughter

Cinematically very modest

Couldn't disagree more with these assessments, I think the relationship between the father and daughter is very richly detailed and realized.

First off, it was already well-known that most of the film would be done hand-held, but as free as the camera may be, the blocking and the compositions are often carefully arranged. This ties in with how their relationship is depicted because so much of it rests on the wordless or minimally verbal stretches between them. The way one observes another, how they behave alone in private, how one reacts in their face when they can't or don't want to say a word, etc.

And that brings me to my next point - on paper, the plot could've been easily dismissed as something fitting for a sitcom or middling comedy, but it's made in a way that no studio would have allowed. Those long wordless and minimally verbal stretches? No way, they would cut them out or piled on the expository dialogue. The long stretches of dialogue that fully immerse you in the daughter's professional life? They would have been gone. It's remarkable how much of a difference Ade's approach makes, making what's again common sitcom fodder into a very different type of comedy that feels a lot more grounded in reality even though so much of the plot is built on ridiculousness. This made it all the more convincing for me.

And that approach is probably what allowed the film's ideas to make a surprisingly great impression - the conflicting bohemian and professional ideals in this film really should feel familiar to anyone whose close friends and relatives are divided between those two spheres.

[hearthesilence]

Saw this again last night, and coming in the wake of world events from the past few months, the context (of globalization) actually resonates a hell of a lot more. We've hit the limits of globalization and the anger at what feels like the growing lack of empathy from those who shape our world economy towards those at the lower end of the socio-economic scale does indeed feed very well into the personal elements at the center of the film.

[Ribs]

US remake probably forthcoming, w/ Ade's blessing

Considering a lot of the discussion of this movie seems to be weirdly casting a potential American remake this seems inevitable. Will be interesting to see how far they take it towards being a more traditional American comedy movie.

[hearthesilence]

I have a feeling it's going to suck, but if it gets Ade the money she needs to make something that was otherwise out of reach, some good will come out of it.

[JamesF]

My money's on Jim Carrey and Jennifer Lawrence for casting.

[ng4996]

I'd go with Jeff Bridges

[mfunk9786]

Could almost guarantee it won't be called Toni Erdmann, too.