Rückkehr nach Montauk

Movie director Volker Schlöndorff has a number of good films to his name. This is definitely not one of them. Inspired by a novel of the Swiss author Max Frisch, Schlöndorff has said in interviews that the contents is basically autobiographic. The main protagonist (Stellan Skarsgård) is a middle-aged, successful, and womanizing novelist from Northern Europe. He returns to New York and links up with one of his former lovers, the one he considers the true love of his life, a German immigrant who is now an extremely successful attorney in NY (the German star actress Nina Hoss). The two travel to Cape Montauk, where they the novelist tries to revive their former relationship.

Throughout the film feels like a mediocre TV production, and never really takes off. Other reviewers have already given their opinion why. Here is mine. First and foremost, it's difficult to empathize with the protagonists. Who would care about the small problems of this super-successful and super-self-possessed middle-aged couple? What's the point for the audience if the novelist chooses his gorgeous former flame over his gorgeous current wife? Second, the dialogue is stiff and unnatural, especially the parts spoken by Nina Hoss. She doesn't sound fluent and natural like a successful attorney would, but rather like someone who has come fresh from Germany and has memorized her lines. That being said, the quality of the acting is generally quite good, as is the photography. So, the failure really comes down to the script.