"Eine Sommerliebe zu Dritt" or "Leichtigkeit der Liebe" is a German television film from 2016, so neither a really new nor old movie. The first title I mentioned is the pfficiall title, the second is the working title and I think that, even if the official title is not great either, they went with the right choice because the alternate title says nothing about the film (actually is a lie) and also feers very pretentious. By the way, the first means "a summer love between three people" and the second title means "the lightness of love". This one here runs for 1.5 hours just like the vast majority of German small screen releases. The director is Nana Neul, a filmmaker who has been active since the old millennium already, but is surprisingly unprolific taking that into account. At least according to imdb. Sometimes she is one who also comes up with her own screenplays, but not so this time. Instead the script is by Beatrice Meier. She started early in the 2010s, so was not too experienced back then and is only slightly more experienced now. Both their bodies of work are admittedly not as bad as you sometimes see it from people who mostly focus on small screen filmmaking here from my country, but they aren't good either. If there is any person close to being a star in this film, then it would be lead actress Paula Kalenberg, who you also see on the poster. The title already implies that she is a woman stuck between two men and maybe she likes it, but I will get more into detail about the story later on. Her two male co-leads Panzner and Korneev are not too famous, but also have worked on quite a few projects. With korneev the good thing I can say is that while being Russian (or Georgian to be precise), he managed to pull of a French character convincingly here, which means he maybe gave the best performance of the film, even if it was not too challenging a performance. The cast is generally not a big problem here, the are more crucial issues that resulted in this movie becoming a failure. While actress Barbara Nüsse has the bigger part from the two elderly female cast members here, of course Irm Hermann caught my attention. The Fassbinder regular had one of the last performances of her career and life in this film and sadly it was a bit (or a lot) of a nothing performance. She palys the female protagonist's grumpy boss and basically has to do nothing all film long other than making an annoyed face. I think there was a reference to her past given in the end as an explanation, but I am not entirely sure. I watched this movie 1.5 days ago and actually with how bad it was, I am glad I am already forgetting about most of it.
I want to forget about the entire thing to be honest. Let me explain why and give you a few specific scenes and inclusions. It already started pretty messy on two occasions with how we see the female main character being in contact with the two male protagonists. The first scene with her husband is the buggy on the street. It is tolerable how she tells him to not cause a crash, but how she gets out and starts pushing it all out of nowhere was really ridiculous. Perfect example of how totally mess up a foreshadowing sequence. Second example would be the elevator scene and how she meets the French guy with her dress being destroyed and him being there to help. Nothing to add. I honestly expected the worst after these two scenes, but luckily, things did get a bit better, even to a level where I considered giving this film two stars out of five and not just one. But the longer it went eventually, the worse it became again and turned into a big mess honestly again. So there is no way this is a weak film. It is a horrible film. Paula Kalenberg is pretty stunning no denying and I've always liked her, but a particularly talented actress she is not and I shall remain neutral there despite her looks. For example, everything about her grandmother is a mess. Where is the mother by the way? Already how granny sees exactly what is going on in her daughter's life is pretty cringeworthy and if they wanted to express a deep connection between the two, then they failed as well. Also how granny has her own really similar story with how she stayed with one man her entire life, but kinda regrets it now, but there was a very brief affair with another man that could maybe even the main character's grandpa. Not 100% clear. And finally, in a pseudo dramatic moments of health issues, granny is rushed to the hospital. It all feels so fake and staged. As for Hermann's character, I already said they shamefully wasted her talent. It is unrealistic too. She is fired after messing up, yet days later she is employed again? By a boss who cannot stand her anyway? What? Are you for real? Now to the men. This film tries really hard to be an equivalent to the French Eva Green movie "The Dreamers", but it comes painfully short. The sex scenes and erotic component is probably still among the better aspects, but maybe I see it only like this because I find Kalenberg hot. But she has her weak moments too, like when she finds out about the pregnancy. Quirkiness is cringe at times. And most of all, the easiness (mentioned in the alternate title) is not there one bit and honestly when absolutely out of nowhere the husband guy towards the end almost starts making out with the French dude instead of punching him is ridiculous, tries to kiss him and he is about to kiss him back. There was no such tendency there whatsoever. It felt absolutely fake and cliché. There are more weak, unrealistic and unauthentic moments here too, like how the husband is in the store the exact same moment when Kalenberg's character arrives at the end to say she is pregnant and many others. It is just bad. Also the French music constantly playing. Felt nothing but try-hard. Or the forced happy ending a few years into the future when her and the French dude are a couple and her husband shows up again too to join them, so they will live as three from now on and we are supposed to believe there will be no problems? Okay. I doubt it. Also pretty clumsy how they led us to this conclusion by talking about how "romance" relationships are handled in Islam. Maybe it was the intention for a sequel that luckily never got made. The potential was there I guess. Story-wise, not talent-wise. To kinda make the husband happy we find out it is most likely his child that she was pregnant with and not the French guy's from the one-night stand. Very kind wife by the way too with how, after an argument with her man, she runs to the French guy and has sex. Hmmm. Imagine the husband doing it. With another woman I mean. He would be seen as scum from now on. There is always anti-male sexism in the majority of these ARD-produced films. Here it is a bit more subtle luckkily. But it is there. Just one of many reasons why you totally need to skip the watch here. It may not be as bad as many ARD Degeto films, but it is still pretty bad. Highly not recommended.
I want to forget about the entire thing to be honest. Let me explain why and give you a few specific scenes and inclusions. It already started pretty messy on two occasions with how we see the female main character being in contact with the two male protagonists. The first scene with her husband is the buggy on the street. It is tolerable how she tells him to not cause a crash, but how she gets out and starts pushing it all out of nowhere was really ridiculous. Perfect example of how totally mess up a foreshadowing sequence. Second example would be the elevator scene and how she meets the French guy with her dress being destroyed and him being there to help. Nothing to add. I honestly expected the worst after these two scenes, but luckily, things did get a bit better, even to a level where I considered giving this film two stars out of five and not just one. But the longer it went eventually, the worse it became again and turned into a big mess honestly again. So there is no way this is a weak film. It is a horrible film. Paula Kalenberg is pretty stunning no denying and I've always liked her, but a particularly talented actress she is not and I shall remain neutral there despite her looks. For example, everything about her grandmother is a mess. Where is the mother by the way? Already how granny sees exactly what is going on in her daughter's life is pretty cringeworthy and if they wanted to express a deep connection between the two, then they failed as well. Also how granny has her own really similar story with how she stayed with one man her entire life, but kinda regrets it now, but there was a very brief affair with another man that could maybe even the main character's grandpa. Not 100% clear. And finally, in a pseudo dramatic moments of health issues, granny is rushed to the hospital. It all feels so fake and staged. As for Hermann's character, I already said they shamefully wasted her talent. It is unrealistic too. She is fired after messing up, yet days later she is employed again? By a boss who cannot stand her anyway? What? Are you for real? Now to the men. This film tries really hard to be an equivalent to the French Eva Green movie "The Dreamers", but it comes painfully short. The sex scenes and erotic component is probably still among the better aspects, but maybe I see it only like this because I find Kalenberg hot. But she has her weak moments too, like when she finds out about the pregnancy. Quirkiness is cringe at times. And most of all, the easiness (mentioned in the alternate title) is not there one bit and honestly when absolutely out of nowhere the husband guy towards the end almost starts making out with the French dude instead of punching him is ridiculous, tries to kiss him and he is about to kiss him back. There was no such tendency there whatsoever. It felt absolutely fake and cliché. There are more weak, unrealistic and unauthentic moments here too, like how the husband is in the store the exact same moment when Kalenberg's character arrives at the end to say she is pregnant and many others. It is just bad. Also the French music constantly playing. Felt nothing but try-hard. Or the forced happy ending a few years into the future when her and the French dude are a couple and her husband shows up again too to join them, so they will live as three from now on and we are supposed to believe there will be no problems? Okay. I doubt it. Also pretty clumsy how they led us to this conclusion by talking about how "romance" relationships are handled in Islam. Maybe it was the intention for a sequel that luckily never got made. The potential was there I guess. Story-wise, not talent-wise. To kinda make the husband happy we find out it is most likely his child that she was pregnant with and not the French guy's from the one-night stand. Very kind wife by the way too with how, after an argument with her man, she runs to the French guy and has sex. Hmmm. Imagine the husband doing it. With another woman I mean. He would be seen as scum from now on. There is always anti-male sexism in the majority of these ARD-produced films. Here it is a bit more subtle luckkily. But it is there. Just one of many reasons why you totally need to skip the watch here. It may not be as bad as many ARD Degeto films, but it is still pretty bad. Highly not recommended.
