Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Arthur & Claire" is a new German movie that is a mix of comedy and drama and was written and directed by prolific filmmaker Miguel Alexandre. Oh well, there is major involvement by other countries too like Austria and the Netherlands where also all of it takes place basically if we ignore the flight scene early on. Maybe the title of my review is not entirely correct as everybody outside the 2 protagonists did a fairly decent job as well, only they did not have the screen time to really shine like for example the Amstel bar keeper. It is about 2 people willing to commit (assisted) suicide and the way fate brings them together, it offers an entirely new perspective at life for both of them. I thought it was handled nicely, even if the eventual outcome was not really bold or daring. Really having both of them die would have been braver. Or at least one of them, but they took the feel good route finally and the way they did it was still okay. Hader was perfect for his character, but I may be a bit biased here because I like him a lot in general. By the way he he also contributed on the script. Dutch actress Hannah Hoekstra I am not too familiar with, but she impressed me too, physically a mix of Greta Gerwig and Taylor Schilling. And the film includes elements from Haders 20-year-old film indien as well as Lost in translation you could say. There were more than just a few funny moments. The one scene that perfectly describes the film's comedic approach is the one where they talk about jumping down into the water to commit suicide, then say they are both swimmers, so it would be pointless. This shows how dark the humor here is, but also how spot-on. There are lots of enjoyable scenes and sure the humor is not for everybody, but I found it as creative as everything else related to this movie. The fact that the daughter death was clearly a bit on the predictable side did not take away from its emotional impact by any means. Actually the newspaper article scenes were probably among the very best the film had to offer and as there are many really good scenes, that says quite something. The only one scene I maybe would have cut is the singing scene, but I can still see why it is included, to show us the parallel between them being on the same wavelength with their love for Irish folk music. And the imperfection of this singing scene was also accurate and made it authentic. It just felt as if they were really going for a far bigger emotional impact than they eventually managed to achieve. And said wavelength between the two was already included nicely very early on when they are both looking for the elevator. It may be not best of the year material, but I found it pretty convincing really and almost nothing was done wrong here. So yeah, I certainly recommend it, especially to my fellow Hader fans. impressive stuff he has been coming up with in recent years. This one may not have the historic significance of Stefan Zweig, but it succeeds in many other fields instead. See it.
