"Uferlos!" is a German television film from 2013, so this one has its seventh anniversary this year. It runs for slightly under 1.5 hours as they usually do and the title means something like "Shoreless!" I suppose. On the one hand, it is supposed to describe the lake situation where the film is set and the fight about who is allowed to have access to it (even if this explanation is a bit shoddy too, it's just about the water I suppose), while on the other hand it is about the female protagonist's isolation. The ! surprises me a bit I must say. Very unusual for films by ARd or ZDF, but here they took this route probably because one word did not seem enough for them. One-word titles are a rarity as well when it comes to those two television stations. The director is Rainer Kaufmann, very experienc ed and prolific, also some alright movies in his body of work, not as bad as the people they usually hire for this kind of movies. That would be more the likes of writer Silke Zertz, whose body of work may not be downright horrible, but still very weak overall. The outcome is not expected as a consequence. As for the cast, the title describes the main character played by Hannelore Hoger. She is an experienced actress for sure and honestly I felt that she did not do the worst job here, managed to elevate the material here and there and even if the film (because of the botched screenplay) is already pretty bad, it perhaps would have been worse without her and another female lead like Jutta Speidel or so. She often gets cast for this kind of films. But Hoger managed to be quietly convincing here and there I felt. Oh well, maybe I am being too kind here and she is just not as bad as the other production values. Nonetheless it needs to be said that the cast here is certainly not a problem or at least not the biggest problem. The male lead is Rolf Lassgård and this film is actually from fairly briefly before he played the lead in a Swedish movie that managed big waves internationally, no less than two Oscar nominations, so here you can see an ounce of his talent already. Maybe he is the main reason why prople are still watching this one. Or maybe not because it is a film in the German language, not in Swedish, so Swedes will have little chance and maybe little interest to check this one out. The rest of the cast includes a handful of experienced German actors. Film buffs from my country will recogize some of these like Brendler, who has nothing to do here except acting pregnant, and Schubert, who has slightly more to do as he is kind of the main antagonist to Hoger's character here, but a friendly antagonist nonetheless. There are no bad people in here, no real villains. However, no matter what all these actors tried, this film was doomed to fail from the start of production because the screenplay is what makes a movie and same is true here, but in a pretty negative sense.
I must say sometimes I even thought the story was tolerable and Hoger was good enough for this to be a weak film at least, not a terrible film, but in the end, it becomes painfully obvious again that calling it weak is certainly going too easy on the outcome here. There are many moments. Be it the inevitable love story between the two protagonists (a bit surprising given the age difference that is visible honestly), be it the mailwoman's role and how she randomly ends up in bed with the male protagonist towards the end, be it the rushed-in solution that Hoger's parents got the area from jews during the days of the Nazi regime etc. It all feels fake and for the sake of it, rushed-in for pseudo drama purpose because this film took itself seriously very much. This one is not on too often anymore because it is a ZDF production and they do not have a dozen smaller stations like ARD (Degeto) to show reruns constantly, but actually this is a good thing here because it definitely has no real right to still be on national television almost a decade after it aired originally. The Johnny Cash song early on was okay though, a bit random nonetheless. What was very random is that the two new neighbors end up in a boat together minutes after meeting for the first time and he jumps into the water. Was this supposed to show us that they can be their true selves in each other's company? I don't know, it felt a little bizarre though. There are also animals in here, the female protagonist loves birds, but yeah when the man's cat keeps hunting those down, of course Hoger's character is not happy. Admittedly, the number of "victims" felt exaggerated. They can fly away, you know. Or what Hoger's character did as a consequence with the cat. Were they for real? I think so. Anyway, there are more moments like those. It all feels fake and unauthentic and with imdb calling this a comedy, I must say I never laughed. The solution back to happiness towards the end also felt fake. Sure she finds that message now who originally lived in that house. Still I must say that Hoger's character's tears after that scene and how she depicts her isolation and how she cannot stand people felt authentic on several occasions. Like I said, she is alright. But then there's moments like the daughter of course being married to the guy who wants to take the premises from ther daughter's mother and the daughter being about to give birth in the midst of this massive turmoil etc. I also felt that the environmental message in here was in theory promising early on, but what they turned it into eventually wwas just a big embarrassing mess. The subject deserves way better, but this is what happens when an untalented writer butchers a story like this. Dreadful. Of course, eventually all goes well with the birth and they cannot take her to the hospital, but she must give birth right there with her mother being her midwife. Okay. And no comment on the guys they hired too play the demonstrators with their signs. Oh boy, this was cringeworthy to say the least. Overall, a pretty bad film, one you need to skip at any cost. Luckily, the number of votes here on imdb shows that most people did. Yes, I may sound a bit harsh here, but trust me: The film is indeed as terrible as it sounds. Low production values all along. As a consequence, the humor is never funny and the conflict feel all fake. Highly not recommended.
I must say sometimes I even thought the story was tolerable and Hoger was good enough for this to be a weak film at least, not a terrible film, but in the end, it becomes painfully obvious again that calling it weak is certainly going too easy on the outcome here. There are many moments. Be it the inevitable love story between the two protagonists (a bit surprising given the age difference that is visible honestly), be it the mailwoman's role and how she randomly ends up in bed with the male protagonist towards the end, be it the rushed-in solution that Hoger's parents got the area from jews during the days of the Nazi regime etc. It all feels fake and for the sake of it, rushed-in for pseudo drama purpose because this film took itself seriously very much. This one is not on too often anymore because it is a ZDF production and they do not have a dozen smaller stations like ARD (Degeto) to show reruns constantly, but actually this is a good thing here because it definitely has no real right to still be on national television almost a decade after it aired originally. The Johnny Cash song early on was okay though, a bit random nonetheless. What was very random is that the two new neighbors end up in a boat together minutes after meeting for the first time and he jumps into the water. Was this supposed to show us that they can be their true selves in each other's company? I don't know, it felt a little bizarre though. There are also animals in here, the female protagonist loves birds, but yeah when the man's cat keeps hunting those down, of course Hoger's character is not happy. Admittedly, the number of "victims" felt exaggerated. They can fly away, you know. Or what Hoger's character did as a consequence with the cat. Were they for real? I think so. Anyway, there are more moments like those. It all feels fake and unauthentic and with imdb calling this a comedy, I must say I never laughed. The solution back to happiness towards the end also felt fake. Sure she finds that message now who originally lived in that house. Still I must say that Hoger's character's tears after that scene and how she depicts her isolation and how she cannot stand people felt authentic on several occasions. Like I said, she is alright. But then there's moments like the daughter of course being married to the guy who wants to take the premises from ther daughter's mother and the daughter being about to give birth in the midst of this massive turmoil etc. I also felt that the environmental message in here was in theory promising early on, but what they turned it into eventually wwas just a big embarrassing mess. The subject deserves way better, but this is what happens when an untalented writer butchers a story like this. Dreadful. Of course, eventually all goes well with the birth and they cannot take her to the hospital, but she must give birth right there with her mother being her midwife. Okay. And no comment on the guys they hired too play the demonstrators with their signs. Oh boy, this was cringeworthy to say the least. Overall, a pretty bad film, one you need to skip at any cost. Luckily, the number of votes here on imdb shows that most people did. Yes, I may sound a bit harsh here, but trust me: The film is indeed as terrible as it sounds. Low production values all along. As a consequence, the humor is never funny and the conflict feel all fake. Highly not recommended.
