It’s teeming with clit hats and huge vulvas
Elyas M’Barek as an old cis man
What: Constantin Films
The “Keinohrhasen” author Anika Decker has made a new film that is supposed to be more political and feminist than her previous ones. There’s a lot of private parts and Elyas M’Barek stars. But the director misses her target.
Elyas M’Barek is back on the big screen after two years. In the romantic comedy “Liebesdings” by director and author Anika Decker. The film by the inventor of “Keinohrhasen” is said to be very different this time than the Til Schweiger films of the past. More political, more feminist and more diverse and all without preaching. An impossible feat actually.
In the opening scene, the camera follows a golf cart across a film set. Scenery is set up, cables lie around, jazz music plays from the off. The scenery is reminiscent of “La La Land”, the musical homage to Hollywood, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. But we are in Berlin, not in LA That becomes clear quickly.
First of all, everything revolves around Marvin Bosch, the big movie star. Played by Elyas M’Barek, who is also a big movie star. Marvin is unhappy. His whole life is clocked and everyone just wants to know about his dream woman. He would like to have more in-depth questions. The tabloid journalist Bettina Bamberger, played by Alexandra Maria Lara, then asked him in a live interview. Böttinger wants dirt and asks about Bosch’s past. He escapes from the interview and hides from the world in a small theater. The theater belongs to Frieda – feminist and comedian – and is on the verge of bankruptcy.
The potential lovers are set and so is the conflict. In the first few minutes, the film gives hope for harmless escapism. Director Anika Decker had previously stated that she would humorously relieve issues such as feminism, gender identity and sexuality. In the end, the old white man and the young feminist should pat each other on the back, laughing at themselves and saying, “Oh, come on, we get it.” She wants to bring diversity into the mainstream without pointing fingers, says Decker.
If only that were easy. There is a key scene that symbolically captures the viewer’s experience beautifully: the feminist Frieda rams her fingers down the throat of the already delirious straight cis man Marvin. He has no choice but to vomit.
Anika Decker is right. Love stories with white, heterosexual protagonists predominate in German cinemas. Decker wrote many of them himself (“Keinohrhasen”, “Zweiohrküken”, “RubbeldieKatz”). She wants to change that by grabbing everything that can somehow be read as a political statement. “Liebesdings” delivers a veritable potpourri of diversity: gays, lesbians, trans people, drag queens, immigrant children, Muslims, depressives and unemployed theater feminists with hand-rolled cigarettes. You are the good. Evil is rich and her name is Bettina.
And most of the “diverse” appear like potpourri. They stand around somewhere in the corner for a certain aroma. The “Depressive”, which is included in the film by the theater group as inclusively as actress Kroymann explains in the interview, can be seen in total for about two minutes. Maren Kroymann plays the bisexual comedian Zelda in the film. Zelda, a black comedian, and a trans man each have about a minute on the “stand-up stage.” Nothing is known about their lives, except that they were very hard. And you only know that because the character of Maren Kroymann presses it into the cis man Marvin in a monologue. After she slapped him in the face. It’s supposed to be funny because she wants a beer afterwards. In general, the redeeming laughter that was promised in advance is missing in the film. There are dancing tampons that look quite funny. But it seems a strategy of the film to make up for the lack of wit through props. It’s teeming with clit hats and huge vulvas.
That alone doesn’t make mainstream cinema colorful and bold, which Decker says he wanted to achieve. Her courage wasn’t enough for a purely homosexual love story in the main roles. Also, Elyas M’Barek as a hero is not a big risk for viewer success – not even with a clitoris hat on his head. By the way, such discourses are funnier and more interesting in films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. It’s about a Chinese immigrant family in the US, their lesbian daughter and their lives in different universes. Or “Call me by your name”. A gay love story that is not funny but beautiful. After which you leave the cinema touched and wiser because the film takes its time for its characters. In the end, political messages in film might be like the clitoris. It’s better to be gentle and precise than to push your face in haphazardly.