Wunderschön
Director: Karoline Herfurth
Writer: Monika Fäßler, Karoline Herfurth, Lena Stahl
Cast: Emilia Schüle, Martina Gedeck, Nora Tschirner, Karoline Herfurth, Dilara Aylin Ziem, Joachim Król, Friedrich Mücke, Maximilian Brückner
Seen on: 30.10.2024

Plot:
Five women trying to navigate the patriarchal world in and with their bodies: Julie (Emilia Schüle) is trying to transition from influencing to top modeling, but at 25 years old, she practically has no chance anymore. Sonja (Karoline Herfurth) is struggling with how her body looks and where she fits in the world after giving birth tot wo children. Her best friend Vicky (Nora Tschirner) tries to instill some feminist sensibilities into her high school students while living an unattached life herself. Frauke (Martina Gedeck) tries everything to get back her husband Wolfgang’s (Joachim Król) attention now that he is retired. And Leyla (Dilara Aylin Ziem) feels constantly criticized by her mother for her weight.

Wunderschön tackles some basic feminist issues with a lot of humor. While rightly observing many problems, it was definitely not revolutionary enough for my taste (and for really effective feminist messaging). But at least it tried, there is a lot to be said for that.

Feminist film-making tends to be stuck in a kind of double-bind. Because it tries to be feminist in the first place, it gets judged more harshly for failing its feminist attempt in some aspects than films that don’t even try to be feminist at all. I don’t really know what to do about it other than acknowledge that fact that I think it’s awesome that the film tries to bring a feminist perspective to a mainstream audience.

But especially because it tries to appeal to a mainstream audience, the film does fall short of its (presumed) feminist goals. For example, in the end it appears absolutely essential for almost all characters that they have a (male) romantic partner. Especially with Vicky, who is vocally and happily single, this plays into the old narrative of „just not having found the right guy yet“.

Plus, for me as a fat woman, the way the film approached Leyla’s story felt particularly shallow. Partly due to the fact that Leyla probably has the least screen time (I didn’t measure it, but it certainly feels that way), but mostly because it doesn’t actually engage with the reality of what it means to be fat, apart from Leyla’s mother’s attempts to make her diet. It engages much more in the fantasy that if Leyla just gains a little more confidence, the hottest guy in town will instantly fall in love with her. As a fat woman who used to be a fat girl who has always been pretty damn confident: that’s just not it. Not the point, no the reality, not the problem.

Other storylines fare better, though they all skirt a little close to cliché. Overall, I’m pretty sure that it is a nice introduction into why feminism is still a talking point even today, why we are far from having achieved equality, how bodies are still socially regulated. And it does come in a nicely done and entertaining package with a really fantastic cast. You could do much worse than watch it.

Summarizing: Not bad, but should have been angrier.