Agnes und seine Bruder (2004)

The christian-romantic ideal of a relationship always starts with (and in) purity and compatibility and it romantically follows with 'And they lived happily ever after.' 'Agnes and her brothers' supports an different view: the relationship is more of a process that indeed purifies the individuals. The partners clearly do not 'live happily ever after' but work hard for every second of being happy and pure. They are more on the way to happiness (auf dem Weg ins Glück). Agnes (interpreted with great sensitivity by Martin Weiß) is in a post-relationship phase on several levels, Herbert Knaup in the rough middle of one and Moritz Bleibtreu at the door of another. All of them go through difficult times and I have to say I could not choose who has the hardest moments. Now, if I put the three brothers together I'll find a very dark image of relationship and life. The film is great and it makes me want to talk to someone about it so if you want to see it or manage to watch this Oskar Roehler' work, let me know.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

     Here is one that I have long avoided...I don't know, it might have been the long title, the enthusiasm of people I knew to be romantic or something like that. Well...indeed, it has a sweetly romantic beginning, it shows good romantic the-whole-world-is-a-mess when a tragedy has befollen me, it ends with a romantic touch. But it has a jumpy narrative line (the movie might be worth watching only for this) with almost as nice side story.      Let me tell you what happens:(Spoiler Spoiler) two people meet (in this case Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet - both doing a good job). And fall in love, have a relationship which feels like 'not the right thing for me at this moment'. And, what do you know, they can go through a funny little medical procedure to 'move over' erasing completely the other from memory. And they do it. [But], it just happens that they meet again and, what do you know, fall in love again and do the whole thing over and over for a while. Finaly they learn at some point that they did that and,w d y k, this time decide to try and go through it again. It is not a big fancy well thought decision but it makes me think that, why not, it may just be that normality and healthy realtion is exactly this one: meet, love, erase and do it again. We're doing this already so...why not. It may not seem like all the happiness in the world but think of it this way: even if we are erasing everything we would still like to go through it again. Could it be? What in the world am I saying? Naturly it could not. Needless to say that the movie has a lot of success among people with a special someone whom they would never erase.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey (2004)

This movie is Mary McGuckian's adaptation of Thornton Wilder's novel ( I noticed I have so if you want to read it...). Cast includes impressive names: F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel. This time the names do not help: the movie is not a thrilling experience, I would argue also because of the great actors. The movie gave me the impression that it could be good but I find this version wrongly paced and the acting out of rhythm. The 2004 version is the last one with the first made in 1929. I would be curious to see the other versions as the story has static...dynamism hard to find around these days and full of unexplored resources. 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey' won the Goya award in 2005 for the Best Costum Design.