The Last Beautiful Autumn Day

Three years after his surprise success "Shoppen" Ralf Westhoff brings "Der letzte schöne Herbsttag" a worthy successor to the cinemas, 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 been in love 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 if 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, three of the actors from the great "Shoppen" ensemble are once again on board, "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 staging seem 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, than this 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!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp