Adam - A Tale of Two Strangers. One a little stranger than the other - DVD

Film: Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism, is the focus of Max Mayer's romantic drama "Adam". The danger of portraying the symptoms of this disorder a bit too exaggeratedly and thus dragging them into the ridiculous was at least as great as the possibility of letting the whole story drift into the extremely kitschy. Mayers has skillfully avoided both, creating one of the most unusual, yet beautiful love stories of the year.

Order plays an important role in the life of Adam (Hugh Dancy). But when his father dies and the young man is left on his own for the first time, Adam, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, finds his life threatening to go completely off the rails. Adam finds a friend for the first time in his life in his new neighbor Beth (Rose Byrne), who finds the strange but endearing man fascinating in a very special way. But since Adam is no more adept at social graces than he is at recognizing and interpreting emotions, it seems inconceivable that he and Beth can become anything more than good friends. But the young woman quickly learns to navigate Adam's very own world, giving him the support he's been lacking since his father's death. But is that really enough for a future together?

"Adam" manages the balancing act between comedy and drama almost perfectly. It becomes clear that Mayers is not using Asperger's Syndrome to simply create a slightly quirky character. Rather, he allows two seemingly completely dissimilar people to clash, neither of whom really seem to fit into the "normal" world, and find each other precisely because of it. Adam is excluded from society by Asperger's syndrome, as its manners are completely alien to him. And Rose is also, in a way, still searching for her place in life, which she believes she has found in a relationship with Adam. Without kitsch and with wonderful performances of the two main actors, the difficult and yet so coherent relationship is conjured up on the screen.

It succeeds especially Hugh Dancy very well to give the viewer an impression of how the world looks like for a person who suffers from Asperger syndrome. Of course, the film is not a documentary, but a feature film, a romance that also takes liberties to adapt Adam's symptoms of the disease to the course of the story. It may be that there are moments in one or the other scene that sufferers or their relatives would describe as rather inauthentic. But all in all, the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome were dealt with in a very respectful, but also pleasantly relaxed way, which makes the film so fresh and so charming.

And that's what should be in the foreground: Unlike, say, most recently "Helen", a film that dealt with the subject of depression in a very depressingly realistic way, "Adam" does not aspire to be a film about Asperger's (even if the fairly frequent mention of sydrome in this review alone suggests otherwise). Rather, the film is an extraordinary love story of two extraordinary people facing ordinary problems - which, however, may in turn seem extraordinary in their very own world. Mayers tells this very story in an uninhibited way, sometimes humorous, sometimes sad, with wonderful dialogues, beautiful images and a very tender soundtrack. And all this adds up to an overall picture that pleasantly stands out from the mass of love stories that have made it into our cinemas and TV in recent years. And therefore also applies: for all romantics and lovers of American independent cinema definitely worth seeing!!!

Picture + Sound: "Adam" is a small, quiet independent production, and this is also noticeable in the technical implementation. Picture and sound quality are satisfactory, colors, sharpness, music and dialogue are well mixed, but if you are looking for more technical finesse, you are in the wrong movie. Not mind-blowing, but perfectly satisfactory!

Extras: In addition to a quiet but informative audio commentary by director Max Mayer and his producer Leslie Urdang (with optional German subtitles), the DVD has an alternate ending, some cut scenes (about 7 min.) and a short promotional making of to offer. The alternate ending, which was still on display at the Sundance Festival and has only been replaced in the official theatrical release, is a bit more subtle, but also more hectic, than the ending chosen for the film. The cut scenes aren't really lacking from the film, but really are absolutely worth watching. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the 7 minute making of, which consists of nothing more than film clips and short interview snippets with the main cast. If you want to know more about the filming and the director's motivations, you can't miss the audio commentary.

Conclusion: "Adam" is a small but very fine film that tells an unobtrusively beautiful love story. Technically, the DVD is well realized, the bonus material, on the other hand, is not very spectacular. Nevertheless: the beautiful story and the endearing story make this DVD absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp