Sometimes the ultimate disappointment is when a movie turns out exactly as expected. My expectation had been that given the ensemble of well-established German movie stars, this adaptation of Michel Houellebeques micro-scandalous "Elements particulaires" would be heavy on the contrived plot but fail to provide the sleaze and grime that was the sole reason to read the original novel. Just how scandalous can a movie become that stars Moritz Bleibtreu, Franka Potente, and Martina Gedeck? You name it.
Not that sleaze could have saved this movie; it surely couldn't save the novel. Both collapse under the weight of a story that is ridiculous in its contrivance. (SPOILERS AHEAD). There are two half-brothers. One is a suicidal sex maniac who fabricates racist pamphlets, masturbates on his pupils' homework essays, and falls in love with a swinger-club co-swinger. Unfortunately, this love of his life first becomes quadroplegic, then commits suicide. The second brother is a scientist disinterested in sex, but he also meets a woman who also lands in hospital (at least they both stay alive). Her former lover became a mass murderer in a satanic sect, by the way; not that it matters. Two more women die, in fact, providing the movie with an acceptable body count.
So that's how much plot is needed to lament how sex spoils our lives. If all this sounds ridiculous, wait to see how the two brothers solve their problems. One lands in a psychiatric ward where he can hallucinate about his deceased lover. You figure he will never write nazi prose or set foot in a swinger club again, so we can be happy for him. The other guy finds out how to clone humans so that sex is no longer needed in the first place; as a result, world peace ensues. I don't make this up.
Houellebecqs novel sort of worked for two reasons. First, because of the sheer exploitation value of the book, the sleaze factor. Second, because of a certain frankness and urgency that Houellebecq brought to this work (his subsequent books became more and more formulaic, right down to the unaccepatable "Platform"). Director/Screenwriter Oskar Roehler grossly underestimated these factors when he tried to adapt this stuff for his all-star cast. As a result, his movie is not only undaring and boring but fundamentally lifeless. The crap that Houellebecq wrote was heartfelt at least; the crap that Roehler shot was just the crap it was.
The four stars I am willing to throw at this movie are all for the adorable Nina Hoss in the role of the brother's hippie mom. All for you, Nina, and don't you share them with the other kids!
Not that sleaze could have saved this movie; it surely couldn't save the novel. Both collapse under the weight of a story that is ridiculous in its contrivance. (SPOILERS AHEAD). There are two half-brothers. One is a suicidal sex maniac who fabricates racist pamphlets, masturbates on his pupils' homework essays, and falls in love with a swinger-club co-swinger. Unfortunately, this love of his life first becomes quadroplegic, then commits suicide. The second brother is a scientist disinterested in sex, but he also meets a woman who also lands in hospital (at least they both stay alive). Her former lover became a mass murderer in a satanic sect, by the way; not that it matters. Two more women die, in fact, providing the movie with an acceptable body count.
So that's how much plot is needed to lament how sex spoils our lives. If all this sounds ridiculous, wait to see how the two brothers solve their problems. One lands in a psychiatric ward where he can hallucinate about his deceased lover. You figure he will never write nazi prose or set foot in a swinger club again, so we can be happy for him. The other guy finds out how to clone humans so that sex is no longer needed in the first place; as a result, world peace ensues. I don't make this up.
Houellebecqs novel sort of worked for two reasons. First, because of the sheer exploitation value of the book, the sleaze factor. Second, because of a certain frankness and urgency that Houellebecq brought to this work (his subsequent books became more and more formulaic, right down to the unaccepatable "Platform"). Director/Screenwriter Oskar Roehler grossly underestimated these factors when he tried to adapt this stuff for his all-star cast. As a result, his movie is not only undaring and boring but fundamentally lifeless. The crap that Houellebecq wrote was heartfelt at least; the crap that Roehler shot was just the crap it was.
The four stars I am willing to throw at this movie are all for the adorable Nina Hoss in the role of the brother's hippie mom. All for you, Nina, and don't you share them with the other kids!