Gisela Schneeberger Movies

Adapted from the novel of celebrated German writer Ingrid Noll, Kalt ist der Abendhauch bounces back and forth over a span of 50 years to tell the darkly comic tale of a destructive love affair between two people. When the film opens, octogenarian Charlotte (Gisela Trowe) has just received a letter from Hugo (Heinz Bennent), an old friend who is coming for a visit. The news of Hugo's impending arrival takes Charlotte back to the year 1936, when she was 16. One of four children born to middle-class parents, young Charlotte (Fritzi Haberlandt) carries a torch for handsome stud Hugo (August Diehl), and is understandably put out when he marries her older sister Ida (Georgia Stahl). An even deeper pall is cast over the couple's union when Charlotte's brother shows up at the wedding dinner wearing a dress, then proceeds to hang himself in the attic. A few years later, Charlotte enters into an unsatisfying marriage with Bernhard (Andre Hennicke), a dull schoolteacher with whom she has two children. Bernhard disappears during the course of World War II and is presumed dead, making it easy for Charlotte to consummate her long-simmering lust with Hugo when he drops by one day after the war. However, on a proverbial dark and stormy night, Bernhard reappears at Charlotte's doorstep, wet, unkempt, and hungry for sex. Hugo's arrival fifty years later exposes -- literally -- five decades of family secrets and dysfunction, thanks in part to the gruesome discovery of a body buried in the cellar. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

One of Germany's most important female directors, Doris Dörrie chose the subject of the universal quest for happiness for the film Bin ich Schön?. Set in Spain and Germany, the film interlaces individual stories of broken hearts and broken dreams with aspirations of new beginnings. On a hot afternoon in Spain, Linda is standing beside the road wearing a thin summer dress and carrying a handbag. A car stops and Werner, a robust-looking German, picks her up. She shows him a note which says, "I am deaf-mute and in need of your help." Werner is touched. As they move off together, Linda throws her handbag out of the window. In a near-by motel, Klaus is on the phone to Munich trying to convince his reluctant girlfriend Franziska to come down to Spain. Linda and Werner have checked into the next room where Werner is asking Linda to hit him with his belt. Plots and subplots intertwine until the film reaches a climax during a religious procession. In an ironic way, the film celebrates life with a message that life is here today and then it's gone. No beginning, no end and enjoy it while you can. Bin ich schön? was screened as part of the New German Films at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

For Susi, the Saturday before Christmas is the longest day of the year, whatever date it bears. This year, it seems even longer. Not only are the customers who come to her combination gas station and snack bar on the way to or from shopping at the mall unusually difficult to please today, but she is getting hammered at by her mother and her ex-husband as well. The icing on the cake comes when she learns that her lease to operate the store is not being renewed, and she must be out by January 1. Every effort she makes to speak to the mall's (honest) director fails, because his unscrupulous assistant wants it that way. Before long, Susi has accepted the help of a young punk who, hearing of her troubles, is willing to do almost anything to help her out. Since his "almost anything" includes yelling "fire" in the middle of the mall on the busiest shopping day of the year, things get even more hectic. Somewhere along the way, the fortyish divorcee and her disreputable-looking ally discover that they care for one another romantically. This fast-paced German-language comedy reportedly had its viewers rolling in the aisles. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy about the triumph of the exploited against the powerful few, an affable and honest Bavarian truck driver is hoodwinked by a shifty salesman into buying seven different insurance policies. When the driver slowly realizes that the cost of the policies comes to about half of his salary - an impossible situation - he innocently goes to the company headquarters in Munich to right the "mistake" - only to find that a secretary is sending him on one wild goose chase after another. In his meanderings, he comes across a hidden system of cameras that have been spying on the workers on the sixth floor - where the secretary is located. So he lets her know what is going on, and in return, she tells him that the salesman he wants will be at a company party that evening - along with everyone else in the company as well. The resolution of the driver's problems takes place during the festivities that night, among a very eccentric crowd of people. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide