DIE APOTHEKERIN (THE PHARMACIST) |
| CREDITS: Director: Rainer Kaufman. Cast: Katja Reimann, Jurgen Vogel, Ricky Mueller,
Isabella Parkinson, August Zirner, Dagmar Manzel, Andrea Sawatzki & Joachim
Tomaschewsky. Germany 1997. INTRODUCTION: This darkly comic tale of a socially damaged pharmacist's search for love did big business at the German box office before making its UK debut at the Edinburgh Film Festival. SYNOPSIS: Hella (Reiman), the titular pharmacist, falls in and out of love with immature heir apparent Levin (Vogel), drug-dealing hard man Dieter (Mueller), and a sensitive father of 2, in her pursuit of the American dream, albeit in a Germanic setting, of a nice house, a husband and 2.4 kids, not necessarily in that order. Who does she end up with? Well you work it out. REVIEW: Another great German comedy, yes another you remember they co-funded "The Man Who Knew Too Little". Okay so the Germans aren't as well known for their sense of humour as say the Scandinavians, Canadians, or even the Spanish, but this film still manage to elicit the odd wry smile from its audience, and so it is a great German comedy. Reiman, a graduate of the Donald Pleasance stony-faced school of acting, is stoically superb in the title role. Parkinson is wonderful in the showcase role of maid, wife and whore. Tomaschewsky is utterly convincing as Levin's possibly senile grandfather and finally Vogel & Mueller form a wonderful double act in their comedy support roles. The plot, based on Ingrid Knoll's third and most successful novel, is sublimely twisted, presenting us with a series of charming but utterly unlikeable characters who may or may not be trying to bump each other off. Wonderfully twisted although flawed black comedy from the black forest. Mutt's Rating: *** |