The Last Beautiful Autumn Day - DVD

Movie: Three years after his surprise success Shoppen, Ralf Westhoff brought a worthy successor into the cinemas with Der letzte schöne Herbsttag (The Last Beautiful Day of Autumn), which once again takes on the pitfalls of interpersonal relationships in an incredibly funny, yet also very realistic way.

Actually, Claire (Julia Koschitz) and Leo (Felix Hellmann) don't really fit together at first - and also at second - glance. She's a real romantic, he thinks it's completely overrated. She can fix bikes, he can cook for it - or at least he thinks he can. She's completely neurotic when it comes to illness, he on the other hand doesn't need to understand EVERYTHING that happens to him and around him. And even though Claire and Leo should, by the laws of nature, be repulsed by each other, they've loved each other for two years now. But slowly the quarrels become more and more violent and the beautiful, harmonious moments more and more rare. And at some point the two have to ask themselves whether their love really still has a future...

Even though Westhoff again moves thematically on similar terrain as in Shoppen and with Julia Koschitz (Doctor`s Diary), Felix Hellmann and Katharina Marie Schubert has brought three of the actors from the great Shoppen ensemble on board again, Der letzte schöne Herbsttag should not be seen as a sequel to Westhoff`s celebrated first film. After all, the characters and their story are not simply a continuation or repetition of what was seen in Shoppen. Sure, there are parallels, some of them even quite obvious. But overall, the characters and production feel fresh and original. The mixture of play scenes and monologues spoken directly into the camera works perfectly and makes for hearty laughter - which sometimes gets stuck in your throat when you recognize yourself or your own unpleasant relationship experiences.

The film is filled with wonderful moments. Such as Leo's first meeting with Claire's parents, which ends with a great punchline, or an argument about why Leo definitely doesn't want to go to a costume party dressed as a vegetable, Ralf Westhoff makes scenes like these entertaining and clever with the help of his incredibly funny dialogue, which at times seems to be borrowed directly from reality.

Sympathetic actors, a great script and a delicious production, as that makes Der letzte schöne Herbsttag one of the most likeable and amusing German cinema comedies of 2010. A wonderful comedy that works not only on beautiful autumn days. Absolutely worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The DVD presents the film in a good, the genre appropriate but rather restrained technical implementation. The picture appears with its good sharpness and the warm colors very harmonious. The sound, dominated by the dialogues or monologues, remains largely front-heavy and has hardly any dynamics to offer. However, this is a film like this hardly negative weight.

Extras: Bonus material has the DVD unfortunately not to offer. Too bad!

Conclusion: The Last Beautiful Autumn Day is an original romantic comedy, which may not necessarily correspond to mass taste, but lovers of intelligent German art house comedies can be warmly recommended. Despite the lack of extras, a more than worthy successor to Shoppen!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp