The 2008 movie "Buddenbrooks", directed by Heinrich Breloer, is not the first time that this Thomas Mann novel was put on screen. Breloer made "Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman" earlier, a film about the man who wrote "Buddenbrooks" and actually Armin Mueller-Stahl played Thomas Mann. Here he plays the patriarch of the Buddenbrooks family. Apart from him, this film has quite an interesting cast, some of Germany's finest actors and actresses: August Diehl, Jessica Schwarz, Alexander Fehling, Iris Berben, Justus von Dohnányi may all be known to those interested in German cinema. The film runs for roughly 2.5 hours and is very long, but I rarely felt that it dragged. Good job all in all. The first half hour is about Jessica Schwarz' character and her unhappy marriage with another merchant. She never loved him, but her father did not allow her to marry the one she actually loves as he lacked standing.
Actually, this film worked best as a pure drama. There are some moments when it tries to include some humor, but none of these really work, like the greedy cake eater or laughing about one guy's wart. If anything funny worked, it was Sylvester Groth's weird character with his very unique smile. However, I would almost say his complete inclusion and appearance was also, in fact, dramatic. I was a bit surprised to see Jean Buddenbrook already die before the one-hour mark, but from that moment on it was all about the lives of the three children. We find out about the next (unhappy) relationships from everybody involved, how one son is very fragile while the other tries to lead the company just like his father did and how these two keep having conflicts for the rest of the film. One scene I found particularly interesting is when Diehl's character's girlfriend, a singer, is pregnant and the other Buddenbrook son becomes a father too, with a violinist. The reactions from the mother played by Iris Berben are so different. The other son was played by Mark Waschke, not a name to many, but he held his own very well against the more famous cast members. Berben, however, is actually forgettable. Very stereotypical character and performance with little to remember. Mueller-Stahl stays in the mind much more.
In the end, there is a few more deaths and the downfall of the Buddenbrook empire is sealed, genetically and economically. As a whole, I enjoyed this movie. It is neither extremely outstanding nor bad, but I felt it was an interesting watch. One of the things I liked most was the makeup or maybe also casting work. Waschke looked a lot like Diehl in many scenes which makes sense as they were brothers and Schwarz' aging make-up is just as convincing as her similarity in looks compared to her movie mother Iris Berben.
Actually, this film worked best as a pure drama. There are some moments when it tries to include some humor, but none of these really work, like the greedy cake eater or laughing about one guy's wart. If anything funny worked, it was Sylvester Groth's weird character with his very unique smile. However, I would almost say his complete inclusion and appearance was also, in fact, dramatic. I was a bit surprised to see Jean Buddenbrook already die before the one-hour mark, but from that moment on it was all about the lives of the three children. We find out about the next (unhappy) relationships from everybody involved, how one son is very fragile while the other tries to lead the company just like his father did and how these two keep having conflicts for the rest of the film. One scene I found particularly interesting is when Diehl's character's girlfriend, a singer, is pregnant and the other Buddenbrook son becomes a father too, with a violinist. The reactions from the mother played by Iris Berben are so different. The other son was played by Mark Waschke, not a name to many, but he held his own very well against the more famous cast members. Berben, however, is actually forgettable. Very stereotypical character and performance with little to remember. Mueller-Stahl stays in the mind much more.
In the end, there is a few more deaths and the downfall of the Buddenbrook empire is sealed, genetically and economically. As a whole, I enjoyed this movie. It is neither extremely outstanding nor bad, but I felt it was an interesting watch. One of the things I liked most was the makeup or maybe also casting work. Waschke looked a lot like Diehl in many scenes which makes sense as they were brothers and Schwarz' aging make-up is just as convincing as her similarity in looks compared to her movie mother Iris Berben.