Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents (2015) User Reviews

Better than it sounds

[timlin-4 · 6/10 · 14 November 2015]

Despite the quirky title this is a fairly serious drama about a mentally disabled woman's sexual awakening and pregnancy; and despite the sensational topic it's not too melodramatic or sappy. Victoria Schulz's performance is convincing and really anchors a movie that is otherwise rather questionable. The main character is given far more freedom than is believable, the man she runs into is of course that cruel rich type that women find so dreamy, and the director also seems too eager to include a depiction of middle-aged female frustration and fulfillment using Dora's mother. Ultimately it seems like a sort of exploitation film, which isn't a criticism. The frequent use of slightly blurry POV shots are, however, obnoxious, as is the muddled ending.

Important subject, done justice for the most part

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 18 March 2017]

"Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern" is a Swiss German-language film from 2015, so this one is still relatively new and fresh. It is possibly the most known work by director Stina Werenfels who is also one of the people that adapted play by Lukas Bärfuss. Werenfels is in her 50s right now and before making this film she took a pretty immense break from movie-making that lasted for almost a decade. The most known cast member here is certainly Lars Eidinger, but huge German film buffs may also have stumbled across Jenny Schily already. I think the title of this film is pretty bad they really should just have gone for "Dora" as she is really the character in the center of it all and I personally found the parents part not too convincing for the most part. This is not really the fault of the parents, i.e. the actors, but because of how they were written I guess. Luckily, the story about Dora makes up for it basically. Disable characters in films, especially films about them, are still a bit of a rarity, maybe even a taboo, because it's difficult to get healthy actors to play disabled and because it's difficult to get great performances out of actually disabled actors. But here they did a good job for the most part. I cared for Dora and hoped she would become happy, which is always a crucial ingredient of course. You want to be emotionally involved when watching a film, especially a drama. Yes the film does have some weaknesses, like it drags on some occasions, or the parents part I already mentioned or also the very sub-par ending that almost got me to give this a lower rating. until the final 5 minutes, they managed to stay subtly convincing from start to finish, but eventually they really messed up in a way that almost causes irreparable damage to the film. Luckily, I say "almost". I think the awards attention at the Swiss Film Prize for this film is kinda justified. I recommend "Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents". Yes the title is pure cringe, but the film behind it is actually a decent achievement if you care for the subject. Just don#t expect greatness beforehand.