With her directorial debut, the grandiose “sleepless in Seattle” variation “SMS for you”, actress Karoline Herfurth (“one million minutes”) succeeded in a cinema in 2016 as a director. But instead of touching on this success with a similar film, she ventured with the action comedy “Sweethearts” to a genre with which one can only fall on the snout in this country-and still (or precisely because of this). Her battlefield-female body-body ensemble comedy “beautifully” became in 2022 with almost 1.7 million visitors despite Corona restrictions on her most successful film. The fact that her next project “Simply something nice” (heading of the film start criticism: “Cuncaped in front of the fairytale castle”), at least with his title, referred to the predecessor was probably due to marketing. Because the film itself is neither “simple” nor only “beautiful”, but precisely because Herfurth also allowed real pain between the light-footed game with tried and tested Romcom mechanisms.
After some hesitation, Herfurth agreed to make a sequel to her greatest cinema success to date. The fear was that they were with “More beautiful“In the fifth attempt as a director, it is now a bit safe for the first time. But puff cake! The sequel not only deepens the topic of the predecessor, but also ventures into painful areas even more consistently – only to let hope and solidarity flash at the same time at the same time. More crying, just as much laughter-and for the final a (women's) power moment in the baseball stadium (keyword: “President of the Spanish Football Association and the National National team”), which despite all the previous precipitation Full of strength and optimism releases from the cinema.

Sonja (Karoline Herfurth) gets into a Tinder meeting for the first time after the separation from her husband, but then quickly gets cold feet again.
The returnees: Sonja (Karoline Herfurth) and Milan (Friedrich Mücke) rely on the nest model after the separation. So your children always stay in the same apartment, while the parents alternately move to them. It also runs okay until Sonja can accidentally notice that Milan dates a pole edain trainer. Vicky (Nora Tschirner) is still waiting for Franz (Maximilian Brückner), who, after a disagreement without further explanation, simply broke up for months of mountain hike. But the new colleague Trevor (Malick Bauer) is also really hot! And Julie (Emilia Schüle) has now given up her influencer career to work as a recording manager instead. However, she is confronted directly with sexism in the TV business-on the part of her attacking boss Paul (Samuel Schneider) as well as by the star presenter Regine (Anja Kling), who thinks that with #metoo now has to be slow again …
The newcomers: 50-year-old Nadine (Anneke Kim Sarnau) is pushed across an envelope by her friendly journalist Zarah (Jasmin Shakeri) on the restaurant toilet. They are photos of Nadine's politician-husband Philipp (Godehard Giese) who show the Berlin finance senator on a date with the young Eastern European sex worker Nadja (Bianca Radoslav). In the meantime, Nadine's teen daughter Lilly (Emilia Packard) reluctantly takes part in a course that deals with the visualization of the clitoris. But little by little she lets the art project, which does not put up with the school director, also rethinking in other questions of her everyday life …
Pretty hard tobacco – and that's a good thing!
Anyone who only expects “beautiful” “beautiful” must expect to be pushed out of their comfort scene again and again during the 136-minute term. After all, even Karoline Herfurth had to leave the research to her regular Co author Monika Fäßler when writing the script because it all became too stressful. For example, in the online research for the scene, in which Nadine reads down the imagination fantasies from a freer forum. Because even if these were not adopted one to one for legal reasons, they are nevertheless devastating authentic and guaranteed not to defuse for relieved mass consumption. The same applies to the elongated lyrics of the gynecologist who examines Nadja because of her abdominal pain-and the young woman is even a supposed “luxury call girl”.
The entire film project started – initially regardless of 'beautiful' – with the story of Nadine and Philipp. Only in the course of the action Philipp realizes that he may not have paid for sex, but actually raped the woman in her emergency. There are always surprisingly touching moments, for example when Nadine, who originally only meets with Nadja to see what her husband finds about her, takes home with her, obviously suffering from severe pain. But overall, the description-especially for a mainstream film-looks so consistent that you are relieved that Karoline Herfurth has subsequently embedded it in her “beautiful” universe. So you can and may laugh freely in between.

Lilly (Emilia Packard) and her friends recognize the school workshops in the course that they may not be as comprehensive as modern women as they thought so far.
Incidentally, this does not mean that Julie's abuse experiences in her new job or the dinner gossip of the female Berlin High Society, in which things are no less condescending as at the male-dominated regulars' tables of the nation, somehow harmless. But it also has something extremely comfortable to be able to rely on the loved ones from the first part and Karoline Herfurth's tried and tested humor. It is no wonder that the excited saying “Do you just masturbate? Then I would close here for a moment … ”, which really only Nora Tschirner (“ One for the Road ”) can play, was cut to the end of the cinema trailer when the final point. And don't worry, there is a lot more in the film at the level …
Conclusion: Where many (German) comedies are satisfied with just coiling a few regulars' table attitudes, Karoline Herfurth is still at least one step further-where it really hurts, where it really touches where it really touches is funny.
PS: In order to oppose the “prejudice of the lame German film”, which is repeatedly put forward, the film start editorial team decided to The initiative “German cinema is (but) horny!” To start: Every month we choose a German film that we particularly liked, inspired or fascinated to accompany the theatrical release- regardless of its size- editorially like a blockbuster (i.e. with a majority of articles, our own podcast- Episode and so on). “Beautiful” is the latest film that we give this seal.