Lara (2019)
Genre: Drama / Music
Duration: 98 minuten
Country:
Germany
Directed by: Jan Ole Gerster
Stars: Corinna Harfouch, Tom Schilling and Volkmar Kleinert
IMDb score:
6,9 (2.806)
Releasedate: 7 November 2019
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Lara plot
It's Lara's 60th birthday and she has every reason to celebrate: tonight her son Viktor is giving the most important piano concerto of his career. Lara was the one who mapped out his musical career. Yet Viktor has been unreachable for weeks and there is no indication that Lara will be welcome at his debut. Without giving it any further thought, she buys up all the remaining tickets and hands them out to everyone she meets.
Actors and actresses
Lara
Victor
Prof. Reinhoffer
Mr. Czerny
Mother
Paul
Marion
Frau Spengler
Jan
Steffi
Reviews & comments
Ebenezer Scrooge
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- 2150 messages
- 3092 votes
The complex mother-son relationship, I like it. Corrina Harfouch (Magda Goebbels in Der Untergang) plays the manipulative mother who sees her talented son succeed as a composer. The story is peeled back layer by layer and we gradually learn that the mother studied at the same conservatory as her son. But unlike her son, she gave up her dream of becoming a celebrated pianist prematurely (out of fear of failure?) and started doing something dull at the municipality. The stiff, impenetrable Lara is pretty much the German equivalent of Isabelle Huppert from La Pianiste. I hardly dare to say it, but it almost looks like stealing.
This time we are not in Paris or London, but in Berlin, which you don't really see much of. It's a pity that the performance of her son's self-written piece is quickly cut short, I would have liked to enjoy it a little longer. It's nice how motherly pride and the tragedy of failed ambitions intertwine, but there could have been a bit more in terms of character study. It's all just a bit too reductive for me.
But all in all a nice quiet film with good acting by Harfouch, despite the comparison with Huppert.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Fisico
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- 10039 messages
- 5398 votes
I have thought Tom Schilling is one of the best German actors for years and I am always happy to see him at work. Although he is an important character in the film, his role is overall limited. He also gives a solid performance here, but doesn't really stand out, either negatively or positively.
The premise of the film is interesting, but is not sufficiently developed as the film progresses. It is poignant when a mother, consumed by remorse, tries to contact her son, whom she has not seen for some time. Her ex-husband or mother also hardly stand up for her (yet). It is sad when she gives away free tickets to strangers on the street to show Jan and everyone how talented her son is.
And it is precisely the latter that ironically led to the rift between mother and son. Was she too demanding? Did she tear him down too much because she thought he had too little talent? I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but later it became clear where her behavior came from. Decent film, but I missed intensity/drive at times.
Translated from Dutch · View original
T.O.
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- 2428 messages
- 2806 votes
Not all that special in terms of story content, but otherwise the film actually does everything well: structure, acting, photography, atmosphere. Not too much and not too little.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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