It makes you feel to learn something about reality, also in your own life. Excellent German movie about tensions, honesty, lies, weakness, role games, superficiality in a relationship of a young couple. A very smart, vivid and profound portrayal of problems in a partnership. The same director as of other successful movies, e.g. Toni Erdmann!

German director Maren Ade's minimalistic chamber drama tells the story of Chris and Gitti, an urbane couple in their 30s who spends their holiday at Chris' parent's summer house in Sardinia. She is a PR consultant at a record company, he is an architect, and they trust their compatibility until they befriend another couple, and the comparison begins.Maren Ade's dialog-driven and colorful depiction of the relationship between extrovert joy-spreader Eva and reserved idealist Chris, gives an observant image of the affects personality differences can have on a rather fertile romantic relationship. Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger's unrestrained and authentic interpretations of the quarrelsome lovebirds who becomes clouded by the shadow of doubt upon meeting a steadier and more established couple, makes this hot and picturesque contemporary romance an atypical and thoughtful movie experience.

this is a most remarkable film. not a great one, perhaps, but an exceptionally finely-judged dissection of a relationship that almost outdoes scenes from a marriage. it's pretty low-key, but every single scene has at least one point of tension, ranging from tiny to quite small, in the relationship between the protagonists, and some a few between the supporting couple thrown in for good measure. the cumulative effect is extremely affecting. achieved through excellence of writing and acting, it's not obscurely subtle and did lead me to wonder if a couple of the other commencer's had actually had a relationship with anyone at all not to be at least partially engaged. it's not for me to speculate here. i would add also, in light of other comments that i found the gender focus to be fairly balanced, which i gather was a concern during production. chris is given a far greater inner life than gitti, and if she is a borderline psych case then so are many other girls who simply want some attention from a slightly hidebound, professionally insecure intellectual whose lone thoughts tend to his self rather than theirs. i only wish there had been more on what attracted the couple to one another in the first place, to make more specific sense of the breakdown, and would have appreciated the relationship's decline being a little less inexorable. but acting and writing are impeccable, and direction very well-paced (including the "nothing happens" bits which are far less frequent than other comments would suggest) and so unflashy that it is probably far better than i appreciated on a single viewing. exceptionally well-observed in detail and not cheerful viewing, and perhaps a little too bleak; the ending hints at happiness - and the lack of resolution is a bit annoying, but appreciated for sparing the who's-afraid-of-virginia-woolf territory that would undoubtedly follow - but it's an exceptionally instructive lesson in how not to take care of the details in a relationship.

A really dull film about really dull people. It just goes on and on.And the most urgent thought running through my head throughout: With all that dusk and evening activity, or inactivity, outside and by open windows - why do they never get bitten by insects???2 hours! I ask you.I gave it more than one star because it had opening credits, then pictures with actors and then closing credits, so was actually a film.I saw the still with the bloodied shirt beforehand, and got slightly excited when the shirt made its first appearance in the film, hoping for some action at last. The resulting sub plot about the bandage was, however, more mind-numbing dullness that sapped my will to live. Another film I wished I had left halfway through.