Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen

This is certainly an interesting film. I discovered this film by accident at my local blockbuster store.At first as another viewer had mentioned found it difficult to get used to the camera format at first. The movie experience was almost like getting sucked into a novel possibly a modern day Camus perhaps.The story also perhaps was focusing on the lack of a social support structure in modern societies. The alienation and loneliness is realized through the character of Melanie in depth. The ending was open to interpretation by the viewer and i am guessing that she is moving on from her teaching position to one which might be more fulfilling. Overall a good job.

I've seen all of Maren Ade's film as of this writing in 2016 and I don't think she's made a bad, or even middling one yet. The Forest for the Trees is her absolutely astonishing debut and immediately showcases her style and strengths.

First of all this isn't a "beautiful" film. Made as a student thesis you can see it was filmed on the cheap on video so the images will never really bowl you over (with a few exceptions). Where Ade's strength lies is in uncovering the hellish situations in reality. She first introduces us to Melanie Pröschle, a sweet, but goofy school teacher who is moving to a new (small) city to teach grade school students. Feeling alone in her apartment building she quickly spies her neighbour Tina Schaffner, and sets about trying to befriend her, which goes in awkward fits and starts as Melanie is socially awkward and doesn't seem to understand boundaries and is constantly confused as to whether her new friend really likes her or not. At first, the tensions between Melanie and Tina seem like the normal awkward pains that happen when adults struggle to make new friendships, but as the movie wears on, and Melanie's professional life flies further out of control, she places greater and greater importance on Tina and her friendship leading to increasingly disturbing encounters between them.

It is an incredibly painful movie to watch because I'm sure everyone has experienced each side of the coin of being a Melanie or a Tina and this movie presents the worst of both worlds. It also features one of the best endings I've ever seen in a movie, and the final shot will stick in my mind for a long time.

"The Forest For the Trees" tells the story of Melanie, a young woman who sets off for a job as a teacher in the big city. She is idealistic and thinks (as most new teachers do)that she knows more than the experienced teachers because she has just come from college and she knows "new" techniques, when experience is the ONLY teacher. But I digress...Eva Loebau does a marvelous job portraying Melanie, who can constantly be counted on to say the wrong thing, both in her professional and in her personal life! We watched and cringed as Melanie made faux pas after faux pas, never seeming to learn, and being too proud to ask for help! As to the ending, the director (we saw this at a Sundance screening, and the director came up on stage for Q and A afterward) said that the end was meant to be more symbolic than literal. I didn't really think there would be another credible way to end the story, and thought that the director did an awesome job in this, her first film.

Excellent film. Not for everybody for sure, but I found this film one of the best I have seen in years. The director has lots of courage to take such an enormous risk. The film leaves many questions open and is not easy to forget. The acting is absolutely superb, so natural and the film avoids simplicity. Highly recommend for people who hate sugar coating. This is film is truly tough, psychologically tough. The main actress is just amazing,but all supporting actors are good as well. The true subject of the film, I think, is actually survival and friendship. Female friendship rarely gets analyzed so closely and accurately. In general films focus too much on romance and not enough on friendships, which are just as complex and complicated.

Melanie is a new college graduate and is beginning her first teaching assignment. However, she is destined to fail because she is painfully unsure of herself and simply doesn't have it emotionally to be teaching kids. The bottom line is that kids walk all over her, her co-workers generally ignore her, she has almost no friends and she's miserable and alone. Because of this, it made me cringe at times to watch and I kept hoping the character would get into group therapy or find another job. However, she did not and her life continued to spiral out of control--leading to an ending that could be interpreted at least two different ways (neither of which are very positive).

This movie is a wonderful example of a fairly well made film that is very, very painful to watch. While I have a very high tolerance for this sort of thing AND I was interested in the psychological profile of the main character (since I teach psychology), I just can't see the average person sticking with this film or feeling especially satisfied by it. Now this isn't to say it isn't good or worth seeing--but it just takes a particular type of person to view it.

Additionally, I can relate because I am a teacher and I have met several teachers a lot like Melanie. Usually I try to help them out, but in some cases there isn't much you can do other than let them know you care--you can't give a spineless person a backbone or give them enough self-confidence to be able to manage an entire room filled with kids. And, in such cases, the kids usually figure this out quickly and the teacher is "toast", so to speak. Maybe this is also why I felt the movie was so painful--it reminded me of several young teachers (including one who literally had the job kill him due to his poor fit and lack of self-esteem).

Overall, this is well made and perhaps the 6 is a bit harsh, but I had to take off at least a point because it was shot on videotape (making it look cheap) and because of its very, very limited appeal. Still, for lovers of edgy independent and foreign films, it might just be worth a look.