A cottage in the woods: isolated, idyllic and unavoidably reminiscent of some half-forgotten fairy tale. Unfortunately, Leon (Thomas Schubert) is not a country person. When his friend Felix’s car b…
), their unexpected housemate. They only hear her through the wall of the bedroom they are now obliged to share, sighing and moaning through bouts of sex that seem to Leon to last forever. He resorts to sleeping outside. Mosquitoes! Meanwhile, he anxiously anticipates the arrival of his publisher to discuss the new manuscript he has just finished. His editor, Helmut , has described Leon’s writing as exciting and promising. It’s obvious to Leon that he hates it.
Between choppers, however, the house feels untouchable, even when ash rains on the lawn. Local lifeguard Devid – who turns out to be the man Leon and Felix could hear through the wall – assures them that the constant wind from the sea will blow the fire in the opposite direction. They’re fine. Devid helps Felix fix the roof. Seeing problems and fixing them is what these men do. Nadja also proves she can jump in response to a crisis.
Whether or not there is an element of self-parody here, Petzold certainly is writing about a world he knows. The isolated anxieties of the writer, the creative artist’s self-absorption – and self-importance, in Leon’s case – and the small but bruising failures in dealing with other people who seem so much better at living than you are: as a satire,rings bracingly true. A series of set pieces dig gently but precisely at Leon’s little weaknesses.
There are no great blowouts, however; Petzold’s tone is sardonic, sometimes snide, but there are no villains here. Schubert is such a sympathetic actor that we side with him even when he is exasperating. Devid’s dinner anecdote was, in fact, both tedious and tasteless. The insects are quite irritating, even on the soundtrack. The tensions, for all that they are observed with razor-sharp precision, are the minor ones of everyday life. The garden is bathed in sunshine, the wine flows.
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