"Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken" or "Love in Thoughts" is a German movie from over 10 years ago that stars Daniel Brühl and August Diehl, the possibly two biggest players in terms of the New German Wave of cinema in the 21st century. Anna Maria Mühe (daughter of Ulrich) and Jana Pallaske play the major female parts, both fairly well known, at least here in Germany. The film is based on real happenings between the two World Wars, which is maybe the biggest reason to watch it. Sadly, it is also almost the only reason as I have to say I was not too impressed by Achim von Borries' script and direction in this one. Brühl and Diehl have given better portrayals in better movies too.Two best friends make a pact to kill those who broke their hearts and commit suicide afterward, but only one of them sticks to the plan. This is in theory a pretty interesting plot, but unfortunately the movie loses itself in all kinds of love triangles and apart from a couple scenes early on and the final showdown, there really isn't too much in this film about the aforementioned pact. I cannot say I really cared for the characters or with whom they were in love, which really hurt my overall perception of the film. I also felt that the fact that this plays in the 1920 could have played a bigger role in terms of political situation or general inclusions other than costumes and set decorations. Of course, it should not have been about this at the core, but still I think it may have helped the film to have a little more emphasis on the time during which it was set. Overall, I do not recommend the watch. I thought this would be better and I am actually glad this was such a short film, only runs for 80 minutes (without credits).

In Weimar Germany, school friends Paul and Günther travel to Günther's parents' summer house outside Berlin, full of plans for a drink-fuelled weekend of hedonism. Joining Günther's sister Hilde, a cocktail of unrequited sexual desire, boredom and indolence leads to tragedy.Beautifully filmed and superbly acted film in the traditions of Gatsby and Brideshead. From an adult point of view, the idea of youth asking 'is that all there is'? is at once both trite and unsettling. Cleverly, von Borries creates a world devoid of adults, where thoughts and feelings are heightened to the point of delirium, and he is well served by his three leads - Diehl and Mühe in particular are captivating as the spoiled and indulgent brother and sister. A heady exploration of privileged, destructive youth.

Recent years the German cinema did surprisingly well with some unexpected successes and this movie "Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken" tries to profit from this revelation but in no way it can be a contender. This story (based on a true facts) has already been filmed in the 20's and a second one during the 60's, but now director Achim von Borries claims that this is the definite version (what else could he say, anyway?). Everything is set in the twenties which was a good time for Germany as there was no sight from the dark forces that were to come. It was also the days of the rise of psychology and some youngsters (the most famous actor among them is Daniel Brühl who is appearing in almost every German film there is made these days) are building up their "suicide-club". The rules are simple but hard. Love is the only reason to live, love is the only reason to die for and therefore life must end if there's no love to be found and those who have betrayed that love will be taken in death as well. The love is at its most free vision as there is both homosexuality (which was back then immoral) and even incest. Von Borries could have made a very interesting film with this but it looked like it was more a trip into poetry rather than coming up with good cinema. The dialogs are far too bland, the acting sucks and it's filmed with such an uninteresting eye that it sets the viewer asleep. German cinema has found its reincarnation today but this film doesn't belong to that current wave.

I saw this film recently at the Stockholm International Film Festival of 2004. More of a coincidence than deliberately i might add, since the premises of the film did not really seem to suit me. But being a sucker for German films (also always wanting to test my failing German language skills) i decided to give it a try, and i'm quite happy that i did.Set in the decadent days of 1920's (or maybe 1930's?) Berlin, this is a story of world-weary rich teens looking for new kicks to make their life interesting. The two friends Günther and Paul go out one weekend to Günthers family's summer house, for partying and drinking. Troubled love is involved and soon things spiral out of control.I did enjoy this film quite a lot. I'm sure the slow pace will put some people off, but i had no problem with it. I found the actors to be the films most prominent strength, many of them managed great performances. Also i found the lack of sex and nudity (in a film revolving mostly around love and sex) to be liberating. It never feels like exploitation.The one thing that put me down a bit is that i don't really know what the film-makers wanted to say with this. We get a view of events happening, but where is the point of all these events? Perhaps that is for us to find out, but i still feel i would have liked some sort of closure. This is a small point though, and probably also something that won't bother most viewers. So i'm confident in recommending this to anyone interested in this kind of film. It's a nice period piece, and well worth watching if you are not put off by the somewhat slow pace.I rate it 6/10.