All Beauty must die - DVD

Film: The story of Robert Durst, son of an American real estate magnate, and Kathleen McCormack begins like a fairy tale. A love that develops against the resistance of the rich family and culminates in a wedding, can really only result in a happy ending. But soon dark clouds gathered over the couple, Kathleen became increasingly unhappy and toyed with the idea of leaving her husband. But then the young woman disappeared without a trace in 1982 and is still considered missing today. For many it was clear from the beginning that Durst killed his wife or that his family was responsible for Kathleen's disappearance. But the case could never be solved and therefore Robert Durst could never be charged. But then in 2001, the case took a surprising turn.

Filmmaker Andrew Jarecki enjoys dealing with cases that seem obvious at first glance, but have much more to offer beneath the surface. His award-winning documentary Capturing the Friedmans is the best example of this. For his feature debut, Jarecki chose just such a case, the story of Robert Durst and Kathleen McCormack, and the research and combination skills he acquired as a documentary filmmaker served him well. Sure, he takes some dramatic liberties in All Beauty must die, but overall he builds the suspenseful story on facts, which makes it all the more engaging for the viewer.

In the film, however, Robert Durst is named David (Ryan Gosling), who falls in love with Katie (Kirsten Dunst), who comes from a rather humble background, much to the displeasure of his father (Frank Langella), a heavily wealthy New York real estate mogul. Since David has no intention of taking over his father's business, he moves to the country with Katie and opens a small shop. But the idyll doesn't last long. Soon David is persuaded to work for his father after all and the couple moves back to New York. A beautiful apartment in the city and a weekend house on the lake cannot hide the fact that David is behaving more and more strangely towards his wife. Soon, the couple seems to have grown apart. After a heated argument, Katie disappears without a trace, but although David is suspected of having something to do with the disappearance, he is not charged. Years later, the case takes a surprising turn...

The fact that the 2008 film was initially forced to stew in the Weinstein Company's poison cabinet for some time before director Jarecki was able to buy back the rights for national release may at first seem a bit of an afterthought, such marks rarely being a testament to high quality. But here, the Weinsteins' actions are utterly incomprehensible. For All Beauty must die is a convincingly crafted and, above all, superbly acted drama that captivates from its rather light-hearted romantic opening to its depressing conclusion.

Bespecially Kirsten Dunst delivers a truly magnificent performance here. The transformation from a fun-loving young woman who is simply happy and in love to an unhappy, frightened and depressed wife is embodied brilliantly by Durst. Ryan Gosling also gets to show once again why he is one of the best actors of his generation. That such best performances are held back while an unbelievable amount of trash makes it into theaters worldwide is really beyond comprehension. Certainly, All Beauty must die is not a film for the masses, but rather something for fans of more sophisticated thriller dramas. But still, it's a shame that quality always has to take a back seat to commerce and thus usually reaches a much smaller audience than such movies actually deserve. Let's hope that All Beauty must die now as a home theater premiere succeeds in receiving the reception that the good actors and the carefully researched production have earned. Therefore, there is from here also a: absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: While the sound remains overall rather unspectacular and even in the DTS mix only rarely really offers much dynamics, the picture can convince with its atmospheric coloring, the decent degree of sharpness and coherent contrasts. Good!

Extras: The DVD has some very good extras to offer. Starting off with no less than two audio commentaries, for which there are unfortunately no optional subtitles. The first commentary is also the most interesting, as director Andrew Jarecki was able to lure Robert Durst, on whose story the film is based, in front of the microphone. While Durst deftly avoids talking about the various controversies and going deeper into the allegations against him, the conversation between the two men is still very insightful, engaging and highly interesting. The second commentary, recorded by Jarecki with writers Marcus Hinchey and Marc Smerling, who also co-produced the film, is rather dry and factual in comparison. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles available for either commentary.

Continues in the bonus program with a 26minute making of that goes in depth into the adaptation of the Robert Durst case for this film and is above the level of usual promo featurettes thanks to the engaging interviews. This is also true of the 22-minute short documentary Original History, in which friends and relatives of Durst's wife Kathleen McCormack, who disappeared in 1982, talk about the real background. The detective who investigated the case also has his say here. A very interesting short documentary that shows how closely Jarecki stuck to the true background when making his feature film.

In addition to these two featurettes, there is a short time-lapse look at the makeup effects, a few cut scenes (about 6 min.), and a short interview with the director (an unfortunately far too short excerpt from what was actually a nearly hour-long conversation). Plus the trailer for the film as well as other program tips from the provider. Very good!

Conclusion: All Beauty must die is a suspenseful drama with first-class actors, which can captivate not only because of its true background to the end. The good technical implementation and especially the interesting bonus material also make the DVD a real recommendation for all lovers of more sophisticated thriller dramas!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp