OBSERVER: Long Story Short
Director David Dietl’s Long Story Short tracks a group of friends through three years from 2019, through Covid and after. The plot weaves through celebrations: New Year’s Eve, birthdays, parties, a christening, a wedding and a funeral. The turbulence experienced in the wider world is reflected in the complicated relationships between the group.
Laura Tonke plays Ellen, a 40-something woman having an affair with Sebastian (Ronald Zehrfeld), one of the group of friends. Sebastian is married to Eva (Antje Traue), a high-flying lawyer and the breadwinner who, it seems, has no time for her husband. Mareike (Annette Frier) is a frustrated hausfrau married to Adam (Trystan Pütter). Maya (Katia Fellin) is desperate for a baby, pressuring her partner Natalie (Jasmin Shakeri), who is unconvinced.
Natalie’s cousin Max (Henning Flüsloh) has a thing for Ellen, but has a pregnant girlfriend.
There are many moments of gentle comedy and an emotional core in the brief but tragic romance between Rolf (Nicholas Ofczarek) and Dina (Pegah Ferydoni). On the surface, this is a feel-good tragicomedy. The ensemble cast is excellent. That said, the film plays on well-worn stereotypes. The ditsy singleton, the lecherous husband, the hectoring wife, the emasculated husband, the ball-breaker career woman. Natalie, a medical doctor and partner in a same-sex relationship, plays the reluctant breeder, stating that she is “too young” at 43 to give up her freedom to have a child. Dietl’s message seems to be that despite best-laid plans, life happens when you least expect it, and we sometimes make decisions regardless of our best judgement.
All fine, except when the cast are white and middle-class, and in the face of a global pandemic where people are dying in swathes, some of the group’s decisions can seem a little trite. Screened at Palace Cinemas as part of the German Film Festival. Further details: germanfilmfestival.com.au/films/ger25-long-story-short
Review by Kathryn Keeble