What is it about men, anyway? You introduce one into an idyll, and all hell breaks loose… happens everytime. Following this well-worn plotline is Summer in Berlin (Sommer vorm Balkon), which distinguishes itself not through originality, but by the excellence of its performances.
Their stable (but bordering on maladaptive) world is changed when confronted with truck driver Ronald, played with great humour by Andreas Schmidt. He is at times hilarious, and otherwise simply offensive, and that the audience is left with any empathy with his character is testament to the charm of Schmidt. As often is the case, the introduction of the changing force must result in a positive re-evaluation of the characters’ lives (even if it requires them to first endure several negative experiences), and so it is here. Whilst the crises that strike both women are predictable, they are portrayed in such a way as to wrap the viewer in the emotion – the early scenes are somewhat slow, but these dramatic scenes are well-paced and engrossing.
There are problems with the length of the early expository material, and the subplot involving Katrin’s son Max gets short shrift when perhaps it could have been expanded. Additionally, some of the humour doesn’t quite hit its mark, and whilst it shouldn’t be a criticism of a foreign language film, the English subtitles at times didn’t quite gel with the action onscreen, and this does detract from the experience of viewing it as a non-German speaker.
All that being said, the performances of Freidrich and Uhl are wonderful, and the film doesn’t get bogged down in melancholy or drama, preferring to lift our spirits with an upbeat soundtrack of German pop songs and a reasonably positive, albeit pragmatic, conclusion. Worth watching for the performances.