Sometime in August (German: Mitte Ende August) is a 2009 German drama film directed by Sebastian Schipper, starring Marie Bäumer, Milan Peschel, André Hennicke and Anna Brüggemann. It tells the story of Thomas and Hanna, a happily married couple settled on the countryside, whose relationship is challenged when they are visited by Tomas' brother and Hanna's goddaughter. The film is loosely based on the 1809 novel Elective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.[1]

Sometime in August
Directed bySebastian Schipper
Screenplay bySebastian Schipper
Based onElective Affinities by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Produced bySebastian Zühr
Henning Ferber
Marcus Welke
CinematographyFrank Blau
Edited byHorst Reiter
Music byVic Chesnutt
Release dates
  • 8 February 2009 (2009-02-08) (Berlinale)
  • 30 July 2009 (2009-07-30)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

The film premiered in the Forum section of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival.[2] It won the Grand Prix at the Cabourg Film Festival.[3]

Cast

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Production

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The film was produced by Film1 GmbH & Co. KG in collaboration with Senator Film Produktion and Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Filming took place in Hamburg, from 28 August to 21 October 2007.[1]

Reception

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Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Goethe seemingly was playing with notions of fate and free will but his work is generally considered enigmatic. For his part, Schipper shows a couple's equilibrium getting upset by outside forces, but he never establishes any reason why this should be." Honeycutt continued: "The four characters -- along with a brief, somewhat inexplicable appearance by Hanna's father and his absurd Russian girlfriend -- never really come alive. The actors are all rather earnest and a score by American singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt wears soulfulness on its sleeve. But the film never gets at what ails these people. It must be bad chemistry."[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mitte Ende August". Filmportal.de (in German). Deutsches Filminstitut. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  2. ^ "Mitte Ende August". berlinale.de. Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  3. ^ "Festival du Film 2009". cabourg.net (in French). Ville de Cabourg. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
  4. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (2009-02-05). "Film Review: Sometime in August". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
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