Sterben

This features a collection of stories featuring the members of the "Lunies" family. Father "Gerdi" (Hans-Uwe Bauer) is suffering the near terminal effects of Parkinson's and lives with his wife "Lissy" (Corinna Harfouch) who isn't really faring all that much better. Their son "Tom" (Lars Eidinger) is a composer working in an emotionally charged environment with his lifelong friend and composer "Bernard" (Robert Gwisdek) who has recently completed a piece called "Dying"; whilst his sister "Ellen" (Lilith Stangenberg) lives a life as a dental assistant peppered with a great deal of booze and some random sex, increasingly with her married colleague "Sebastian" (Ronald Vogel). The family are fairly disjointed, and when the father dies we see how they reconcile with home truths abounding, the failings of electric cars made pretty clear and the virtues of forest funerals advertised too! There is a considerable degree of energy from both siblings here. Eidinger's side of the coin involves a torrid relationship with his mother and delivers one of the most entertainingly frank conversations you're ever likely to see, all while he is caught up in a love triangle with his ex-girlfriend and her newborn baby and the baby's father whom she would rather he was than "Moritz" (Nico Holonics). "Ellen", well she's a bit of a firebrand and let's also say that if you are at all squeamish about dentists, drills, masks and... well, just suffice to say that there are some scenes that really did make me very grateful I was the only person at this screening! You wouldn't want to take her to a concert neither! There is lots of humour here, but it's not comedy nor is it laugh out loud. It's much more scenario and character-based and the strong performances cleverly interweave the strands towards the ending in a fashion that guarantees that an happy ending is the last thing we can expect. It is a long film, but it is structured in a way that keeps it engaging, touching, at times quite sad and at times realistically poignant as family life is put under a microscope. We are also treated to quite an orchestral treat at the end, too, as this maelstrom of human emotions moves on to new chapters.

I just saw Sterben in a small retrospective of Best Films of 2024 (based on Dutch release dates). It is one of the few highly rated 2024 films I haven't seen yet. I'm glad I went, because the 3-hour family saga is truly great. All of Us Strangers remains my favorite movie of the year (it's one of my favorites of the decade), but Sterben isn't far behind. Yes, I like some Drama in my drama.

The alcoholic sister part is a the more predictable, in that it follows a lot of self-destructive drunk tropes. It is still solid and there is no denying the greatness of the drunk bar dentistry scene.

But the son-mother plotline is Bergman-level, especially the dinner table scene where Lars Eidinger and Corinna Harfouch absolutely shine.

Eidinger's character Tom is a conductor and works with the depressed and neurotic composer, who is also a close friend, on a piece during the movie. This is really well done; the piece really develops during the movie.

A little running gag I like, is that Tom who goes from crisis to crisis, wears a hat that has 'Don't Panic' on it.

Even Leo TOLSTOY knew that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This is also clear to the German film director Matthias GLASNER, who was awarded the Silver Bear at the BERLINALE 2024 for his new film DYING. But he can add the North German Protestant variant to the theme, which further intensifies the familial melancholy.

Lissy Lunies (Corinna HARFOUCH) and her husband Gerd (Hans Uwe BAUER) live in a small North German town and are already severely affected by old age. Accepting help is difficult for both of them. Their two children live far away and are badly hit by their own problems. Son Tom (Lars EIDINGER) lives in Berlin and is somewhat successful as a conductor, but is hopelessly entangled in private quarrels. Daughter Ellen (Lilith STANGENBERG) lives in Hamburg and is so committed to an alcohol-soaked lifestyle that she wakes up in Latvia after a night of drinking. It's true! Both are confronted in different ways with their parents' infirmity and their own inadequacies.

The fact that the film doesn't get boring over its three-hour running time is thanks to the fantastic cast, which also includes Anna BEDERKE, Robert GWISDEK, Saerom PARK, Saskia ROSENDAHL and Ronald ZEHRFELD. The German actors Corinna HARFOUCH (EUROPEAN FILM AWARD Nominee 1989 for TREFFEN IN TRAVERS) and Hans Uwe BAUER have been awarded the GERMAN FILM AWARD of the year 2024 for their splendid performances. The showdown at the coffee table between HARFOUCH and EIDINGER is one of the most impressive things to have been seen in German cinema in recent years. The Lunies family is unhappy in their own way.

A melancholy film from the German-speaking world! Haven't we seen enough of that already? Yes and no. Of course, as a cinema-goer you ask yourself whether this is typically German (or at least northern German) or whether it would be possible in other cultures. But Matthias GLASNER aims very high and takes his cues from cinema greats such as Ingmar BERGMAN and Federico FELLINI. After all, it's not for nothing that Tom Lunies prefers to watch the four-hour TV version of FANNY OCH ALEXANDER (1983) on Christmas Eve. And the character played by Robert GWISDEK (in real life, HARFOUCH's son) reminds me, at least, of Steiner played by Alain CUNY in LA DOLCE VITA (1959).

Of course, depressing German cinema is not everyone's cup of tea. But the way the story is so close to reality has a very special impact that you should definitely expose yourself to.

Clearly recommended!