Why men don't listen and women don't park well (film)

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Movie
Original title Why men don't listen and women don't park well
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 2007
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director Leander Haussmann
script Rochus Hahn ,
Alexander Stever
production Oliver Berben ,
Herman Weigel
music James Last
camera Tilman Buettner
cut Peter R. Adam
occupation

Why men don't listen and women don't park properly is a German comedy film from 2007 by Leander Haussmann , who filmed the book of the same name .

action

One evening, the successful lawyer and heartthrob Jan has to look through a window of his expensively furnished apartment as a parking vehicle scratches his red convertible below. On the spot, he gets to know the driver, the equally successful publishing employee Katrin. Despite initial mutual accusations, the two soon become a couple. With them, as well as with Jan's brother Rüdiger and his pregnant girlfriend Melanie, various theses about the behavior of men and women are played out.

Challenges for the relationship arise in different communication styles, in thinking and feeling, and through the appearance of alternative sexual partners. Jan hires the pouty blonde Angie as a secretary under drive control; Katrin is impressed by the world adventurer Jonathan Armbruster. Jan's almost fling with the secretary is prevented by the show of her jealous ex Sven. But his confession to Katrin means that she gets involved with Armbruster. Jan's attempts to regain Katrin's affection initially fail. But in the end Katrin decides for him.

concept

Stylistically, the film is a mixture of classic screwball comedies, the Oswalt Kolle educational films of the 1960s, Grzimek and the schoolgirl report . The “candy-colored cleanliness” of the 1950s was visually striking. The starting point for developing the script were the theses of the married couple Allan and Barbara Pease , whose non-fiction book of the same name also sold very well in the German edition. According to this, the current behavior of men and women can be traced back to genetically inherited, instinct-controlled patterns of behavior that developed in the Stone Age, when people lived in caves and fed on hunting wild animals and collecting food. Haußmann introduces each new film sequence with a further thesis, which he speaks in “Onkelton” about the image frozen into a slide.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was composed by big band legend James Last , the title track “Der kleine Difference” was sung by chanson singer Annett Louisan . Francesco Wilking from the band Tele sings "Mi Lascerai" and "Our Melody (Jan & Katrin)".

resonance

Reviews

The film received very different reviews from the critics. Above all, the negative reviews rejected the underlying theses of the Pease couple. These are suitable to guide the audience to feel relieved of their own responsibility. In his films, Haußmann shows a preference for people in bondage ( NVA , Sonnenallee ). The drawn personalities are flat: “It is not we who act, but the primacy in us - this assertion is of course true if there is no character who could oppose the primate.” The style fluctuates between pubescent and vulgar, “when you laugh, then out of embarrassment. "

The director Leander Haußmann comments that the film only apparently answers questions, it is meant ironically: “In this respect, the book title is an apparent step backwards, apparently reactionary. But to be politically incorrect on a small level, that was just fun. ” Several reviews see this slight irony only as a safeguard against possible accusations. "By half-heartedly overdrawing scenes and figures, he always has an excuse in case of doubt: Everything is not meant that way." Haußmann is also accused of stringing together individual punch lines without dramaturgy and without sustained tension. Furthermore, the appearance of the backdrops in the Stone Age scenes are assessed as implausible and artificial.

Among the critically inclined to be positive, some express a reservation against the basic behavioral assumptions and see this as the weak point of an otherwise amusing film, while others find the Pease theses applicable. Above all, the performance of the actors is praised. Jessica Schwarz, who is always underestimated, opposes the hyperbole of the staging with her naturalness.

reception

The Constantin brought the film with nearly 400 copies of frequently visited, but also competitive Christmas season in the cinemas. The premiere was on November 27, 2007 at the Cinemaxx in Berlin on Potsdamer Platz . By early January 2008, the production had already reached one million viewers. Despite the good reception by the audience, she was not nominated for the German film award, which led Leander Haussmann to threaten to resign from the award-giving German Film Academy .

literature

Conversations with Haussmann

  • Frankfurter Rundschau, November 28, 2007, p. 21: "I was shadowed for three years" (part of the conversation concerns the film)
  • General-Anzeiger (Bonn), January 10, 2008, p. 28: "Nobody plays the bastard so well"

Review mirror

Rather positive

  • Frankfurter Rundschau , November 29, 2007 (despite clichés and worn-out situation comedy like in 1990s relationship comedies, well entertaining on a not too high level)
  • Der Spiegel , November 26, 2007 ("not always a great film, but an all-round great film" - boring theses, good cast)
  • Die Welt , November 29, 2007 ("an achievement" with coherent details, excellent actors, but too much 1990s relationship comedy, clutter and poor ending)

Mixed

  • Cinema , No. 12, December 2007, p. 62 (episodes on their own would be a hit, but the suspense is missing)

Rather negative

  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , November 30, 2007 (praise for Ochsenknecht and the music - overarching plot missing, undecided between too many style models, dialogues weak)

negative

  • film-dienst , No. 25, 2007 (low level without tension and without real characters)
  • Stuttgarter Zeitung , November 29, 2007 (dialogues and camera weak, story and characters flat)
  • taz , January 27, 2008 (film failed and theses ridiculous)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for why men don't listen and women don't park well . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , September 2007 (PDF; test number: 111 378 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for why men don't listen and women don't park well . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Der Spiegel, November 26, 2007, p. 172: Please laugh
  4. ↑ a b Die Welt, November 29, 2007, p. 29: Greetings from Neanderthal
  5. ↑ a b c d e Frankfurter Rundschau, November 29, 2007, p. 33: And women beckon forever
  6. ↑ a b Stuttgarter Zeitung, November 29, 2007, p. 37: We are innocent, it was the half-monkey
  7. ↑ a b c d taz, the daily newspaper, November 27, 2007, p. 15: In the crossfire of hormones
  8. ↑ a b film-dienst No. 25 2007, p. 30 (fd 38481)
  9. ↑ Leander Haußmann in conversation with General-Anzeiger (Bonn), January 10, 2008, p. 28
  10. ↑ Why men don't listen and women don't park well. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 17, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  11. ^ Rheinische Post Düsseldorf, January 8, 2008
  12. ↑ Der Tagesspiegel, January 24, 2008, p. 25

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