Film:
When British actor and comedian Ricky Gervais created the character of self-absorbed office manager David Brent in 2001, who is observed with his staff by a team of documentary filmmakers as they go about their daily business in his office, no one could have guessed the success it would spark. The series "The Office" became a huge success for the BBC and this unusual comedy also enjoyed great popularity abroad. Winner of countless awards, Gervais ended David Brent's creative output on a high after just two short seasons (12 episodes in total) and a two-part Christmas special. But the success story of "The Office" is far from over!
In the USA, where the original was already very successful, the broadcaster NBC used a version specially conceived for the American market and produced by Gervais, in which a wonderful Steve Carell ("Virgin (40), Male, Seeking.") plays a delightfully incompetent boss as Michael Scott, although the quality of the original is not quite reached. Germany also took the concept from "The Office", christened it "Stromberg" and found the perfect lead actor in Christoph Maria Herbst, who is every bit the equal of his British and US counterparts in terms of greasiness and insensitive demeanor.
Dennoch comes "Stromberg" not in the slightest to the English original and even in direct comparison to the US version, the German office life performs rather poorly. The reason is clearly the chosen pseudo-documentary style, which works perfectly in the US and England, but in the German version sometimes seems a bit too played. Where especially in England subtle humor with just a hint of a plot is emphasized, the German authors try too hard to explain every gag too much and depict some things just too exaggerated. For example, the fact that employee Ernie is constantly indulging his passion for "Yps" with gimmick or always has his "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht" game handy is quite amusing to watch, but ensures that the documentary element is sacrificed too much to the "Spiel". Because even though there may be people like this in many German offices, moments like this are a bit too exaggerated, too clichéd to capture what the original is about. Here, the goal is rather to make small, completely unremarkable quirks of employees the subject of discussion, which are then presented until it becomes almost unbearably uncomfortable for the viewer - and that's exactly why "The Office" is so funny.
Another shortcoming of the German version is the actors, who may all be very talented, but can't free themselves enough from the "acting" per se. They somehow don't seem like real, typical office workers, but just like actors, which is of course deadly for the documentary format of the series. There's a lack of spontaneity here that would be necessary for this format, and so everything seems too scripted and rote. Moreover, there are no real sympathetic characters. Storylines like Tim's (Martin Freeman) desperate wooing of receptionist Dawn (Lucy Davis) in the British version, which was also picked up nicely in the American version, are simply missing here or are only rudimentary and nowhere near as sympathetic. There is no character with whom you as a viewer really sympathize, feel sorry for and are happy for him. Let's hope that "Stromberg" will develop a bit more here. However, it should be noted at this point that all these negative aspects in themselves only stand out in direct comparison to the British original. Who knows neither the English, nor the U.S. version, which will probably be less bothered by it!
Who has a good knowledge of English, should still definitely reach for the English original (in Germany, the first season in the original with German subtitles has already been released) or the U.S. version (available as an import DVD). But even if these versions are by far better than the German version, "Stromberg" is also absolutely worth seeing, not least because of the politically completely incorrect and incredibly good Christoph Maria Herbst, his commendable independence and some really amusing moments!
Picture:
The image of the DVD pleases in particular by the well-matched colors and an inherently very clean, noise-free image. Only the sharpness of the picture leaves something to be desired here and there if you look closely.
Sound:
The intended documentary style naturally brings with it a rather unspectacular sound. However, the dialogue is very well and cleanly mixed, which is why there is a genre-specific "Gut" here!
Extras:
There is a quite amusing audio commentary on each of the episodes 3, 4, 7 and 8, whereby especially the last episode pleases, in which main actor Christoph Maria Herbst and director Arne Feldhusen have sat down in front of the mic and talk about the filming of the first season. They also do this with the support of other participants in the Making of (approx. 34:01 min.), which can be found on the first DVD. In addition to extensive interviews, there are a few scenes from the casting and a few behind-the-scenes clips to see. On the second DVD there are some amusing outtakes (05:24 min.), and that's it for the bonus material! A word in conclusion: it is quite surprising and actually also very pretentious that in the making of and in the audio commentary by the director there is no mention whatsoever that "Stromberg" is a remake. Rather, the whole thing is sold as its own revolutionary concept, which it definitely is not! For a remake, the series is really successful, but you should have so much guts to at least mention this with a short word and not just write it in very small letters in the credits!
Conclusion:
"Stromberg" is funny. "Stromberg" is good. But compared to the English original or the US version, the German version of "The Office" does rather poorly. The DVD conversion is technically not exactly exhilarating, but the extras are amusing and worth watching! For fans of the series, therefore, an absolute recommendation, who has a good knowledge of English, but should in any case rather reach for the original from England. That is simply unbeatable!
Director: Arne Feldhusen
Number of Discs: 2
Languages: German (Stereo 2.0)
Subtitles: None
Image Format: 16:9 (1.78:1)
Extras: Making of, Outtakes, 4 Audio Commentaries
FSK: o.A.
Length: approx. 220 min.
Regional code: 2
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
