Simon Verhoeven talks about family, loss and the art of finding yourself. A clever and touching tragicomedy.
The award-winning director Simon Verhoeven (53, “Welcome to the Hartmanns”) has a keen sense of tones that capture life in all its contradictions. His new film “Oh, this gap, this terrible gap” is a striking example of this. What begins as a tragic coming-of-age story unfolds into a warm-hearted and at the same time pointed homage to charmingly quirky grandparents, to the theater and to the courage to find oneself in a chaotic world.
The sensitive and detailed staged tragicomedy is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by actor, director and writer Joachim Meyerhoff (58). In the third volume of his family saga, he creates a literary monument to his grandparents – the actress and Falckenberg teacher Inge Birkmann (1915-2004) and the philosopher and former chairman of the education council Hermann Krings (1913-2004).
Scene from “Ah, this gap, this terrible gap”
Senta Berger and Michael Wittenborn enchant as eccentric grandparents
The Hamburg actor Bruno Alexander (27, “The Discounters”) is convincing as the young Joachim, who is unexpectedly accepted at the renowned Munich drama school. Between eccentric exercises, strange teaching rehearsals – “I have to read Effi Briest next week, as a hippopotamus” – and the eternal doubt as to whether he is actually in the right place here, he feels his way through a world that seems as glamorous as it is merciless. In his grandparents' villa he finds a second stage – and a lovingly drawn, bizarre parallel universe.
Film star Senta Berger (84) and her award-winning colleague Michael Wittenborn (72, “Nothing new in the west”) embody Inge Birkmann and Hermann Krings with great dedication, noticeable warmth and a fine sense of situational comedy. When he conscientiously takes pill after pill while she swallows her medication without further ado – “They already know where to go” – humor arises that also seems tender. Even their morning rituals, such as gargling together, are so stubborn and lovingly drawn that you immediately fall in love with this couple.
Scene from “Ah, this gap, this terrible gap”
Ensemble quality that characterizes Verhoeven's films
While Joachim struggles at drama school in the late 1980s with Aikido exercises, bizarre improvisations and a demanding and eccentric teaching staff – fabulously cast with Anne Ratte-Polle, Victoria Trauttmansdorff and Karoline Herfurth – at home he experiences great feelings between Edvard Grieg, schnapps chocolates, old photos and a stair lift.
The supporting roles are also well cast: Katharina Stark, Laura Tonke, Friedrich von Thun, Johann von Bülow, Devid Striesow, Moritz Treuenfels and a wonderfully ironic Tom Schilling contribute to the ensemble quality that always characterizes Verhoeven's films.
Visually, “Oh, this gap, this terrible gap” moves between warm nostalgia and cheerful realism. Munich appears as a city of memory and departure at the same time – the theater school as a microcosm of longing. Bruno Alexander carries this balance with remarkable maturity. His insecurity, his hesitations and his growth seem so authentic that you follow his development with compassion.
The trick of making heavy things seem light
Verhoeven manages the feat of telling about serious topics with ease. “Mr. Moser died yesterday” – “Already the fifth funeral this year, very unpleasant, this death,” the grandparents chat casually and then turn back to their everyday lives. Death, loss and growing up are omnipresent, but lose their horror through poetic, philosophical and often surprisingly funny moments.
In the end, we are left with a film that is comforting because it shows that the biggest gap in life is sometimes exactly the space in which something new can emerge. “Oh, this gap, this terrible gap” is funny, wistful and clever – and a cinematic gift to everyone who loves life because it is so imperfect – and to those who recognize the magic in getting older.
4 out of 5 happily created gaps