Juliane Kohler was so stunningly beautiful as Eva Braun in DOWNFALL that I just had to see this movie to see her in action once again.
Unfortunately, this movie is no DOWNFALL. Instead of grinding terror and tension, there's only a faint sense of malaise. The destruction of the Nazi state is presented as faintly annoying background noise rather than a cataclysmic event. The real focus of the film is on two women drawn together by lust -- a Jewish bohemian and a placid German housewife. But the two doomed lovers never really seem truly passionate, nor is there any sense of danger and terror all around.
Maybe this story would have worked better if it had been set in the Weimar Republic instead of Nazi Germany. Then all the high-living party scenes with the dazzling Jewish heroine showing off her wit and irreverence in public would be more believable. And the placid, oblivious blonde housewife would be easier to forgive for her bland submission.
Unfortunately, this movie is no DOWNFALL. Instead of grinding terror and tension, there's only a faint sense of malaise. The destruction of the Nazi state is presented as faintly annoying background noise rather than a cataclysmic event. The real focus of the film is on two women drawn together by lust -- a Jewish bohemian and a placid German housewife. But the two doomed lovers never really seem truly passionate, nor is there any sense of danger and terror all around.
Maybe this story would have worked better if it had been set in the Weimar Republic instead of Nazi Germany. Then all the high-living party scenes with the dazzling Jewish heroine showing off her wit and irreverence in public would be more believable. And the placid, oblivious blonde housewife would be easier to forgive for her bland submission.