SPOILERS
I agree with some of the others who were not moved by this over-hyped movie. Yes the music and cinematography was well done but the overwhelming mediocrity in other key areas cannot be overlooked--see the spanning of much time without giving evidence of why the characters acted the way they did/what their motivation was. There was indeed little character development and the wife's attitude especially seemed to arbitrarily change for the better, not to mention it was never clear why the couple stayed together/still loved each other, when the trend seemed to be going the other direction. Plus, how interested did she really seem in what was going on in Germany, in light of how much she professed to worry about it?-- for example she tries to seduce Suesskind while he's telling her about news of the war, she acts completely indifferent towards the great news of the allies arriving in France. On a different note, did the husband show any sign of having fought in a war when he returned?
Basically themes touched on in the movie have been covered with much more depth, feeling, believability etc. Exotic setting and a story of refugees in hard times doesn't compensate for a storyline which is in no way dynamic (reaching any sort of climax), or unengaging characters.
Don't believe the hype.
I agree with some of the others who were not moved by this over-hyped movie. Yes the music and cinematography was well done but the overwhelming mediocrity in other key areas cannot be overlooked--see the spanning of much time without giving evidence of why the characters acted the way they did/what their motivation was. There was indeed little character development and the wife's attitude especially seemed to arbitrarily change for the better, not to mention it was never clear why the couple stayed together/still loved each other, when the trend seemed to be going the other direction. Plus, how interested did she really seem in what was going on in Germany, in light of how much she professed to worry about it?-- for example she tries to seduce Suesskind while he's telling her about news of the war, she acts completely indifferent towards the great news of the allies arriving in France. On a different note, did the husband show any sign of having fought in a war when he returned?
Basically themes touched on in the movie have been covered with much more depth, feeling, believability etc. Exotic setting and a story of refugees in hard times doesn't compensate for a storyline which is in no way dynamic (reaching any sort of climax), or unengaging characters.
Don't believe the hype.