Review of Lost in Separation

After seeing the movie I was baffled it got advertised as a comedy. The only laughs in it is Martina Gedecks cynical, helpless snickering about her unhappiness in the pretty amateurish therapy sessions. But lets start at the beginning. Gedeck is a wife and mother with a sick, pale face, eerily dead eyes and lots of nervous mannerisms who is shocked that her dull, overweight husband is having an affair with a young coworker. It is rather shocking, since she is a rather strange woman who never combs her hair and has a strangely dumb, absent minded look on her face. I know I sound nasty, but I was buffled about how ugly and plain, or overdressed and somewhat silly everybody looks in the movie. The only attractive person is the veteran actress who plays the therapist, and she is around 70 - but she radiates the intelligence and contemptness the whole movie, including its garish, drab photography, lacks. The high strung and annoyingly superficial characters engage in the usual mini dramas and screaming fits, which are pretty hilarious considering that they life in a posh designer house, have both good and interesting jobs and no truly serious problems. I guess that is the problem - they are both spoiled and have everything in life, but fail to realize that. Instead they engage in childish fights e.g. about how they never did that trip to Egypt they planned once. Going to Egypt? Now? Are you kidding me? Their children and friends are equally unpleasent. The son is a student who only cares about expensive clothing and playing golf, the daughter is a weird and somewhat loudmouth and know it all, who has no education in the field but wants to run an office as a posh life counsellor. Both seem pretty happy living of their parents money, though. The couples best friends are a girlish, prematurely aged TV journalist caked in too much make up and her submissive, weak husband. The wives new lover is a nihilistic narcissist only playing with her using pseudo philosophical ramblings about the meaninglessness of live and the usual love bombing / devaluing strategies. She loves it, which was rather painful to watch. In the end, the family dog dies, and for the first time in the movie the family shows some true emotions. But were they really mourning him or their hollow, shallow lifes? The narcissist choses the daughter as his next victim, which she loves (like mother, like daughter?), the dumb coworker leaves the husband because he is not her dream lover at all (what a surprise), and the wife decides that running an artsy fartsy online blog about her work at the museum will be her path to true happiness. Good Luck. Her first post is a video showing her running through the exhibition screaming, trying to steal objects and playing catch me if you can with the baffled guards. The world of online journalism has probably just been waiting for this. Maybe she should try recreational drugs instead? At least it would give her weird behaviour some explanation. So, if you want to engage is some masochism and get a detailled account of the wrecked, wretched lives of Hamburgs rich and beautiful upper class, go for it. Otherwise, this movie is a waste of time and talent.