Die Blumen von gestern (The Bloom of Yesterday)
2016
*½
Director: Chris Kraus
Cast: Lars Eidinger, Adèle Haenel, Jan Josef Liefers, Hannah Herzsprung, Sigrid Marquardt, Bibiane Zeller, Rolf Hoppe, Eva Löbau
Toto is a tightly wound Holocaust historian, whose own grandfather was a famed Nazi. Just when Toto is about to reach his breaking point due to work and marriage stress, he must look after a new intern, an opinionated French Jewish woman named Zazie. This chaotic German comedy deals with the Holocaust and collective guilt, but it looks like director/writer Chris Kraus made it all up as he went along. The film is certainly unpredictable, but I have no idea what the genre or tone is going to be in the next scene or what the supposed narrative glue is that holds it all together. As if that's not enough, the characters are absolutely infuriating. Toto is a volatile hothead whose guilt runs so deep that he can't get it up and Zazie is a classic Manic Pixie Dream Girl who goes from a sweet girl to a suicidal wreck overnight. The serendipitous epilogue is the final straw.
