Am I the only one who didn't like this film? I thought it was horribly predictable, full of cliches. The music irritated me. It seemed like nothing but pure chick flick. I guess some haven't seen many German films? Was this a film made for an American audience? It seemed like it. They make MUCH better films than this in Germany. Anything by Wim Wenders is ten times better, just to name one name.
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You are not alone! I am german and i can tell you here are a lot of people who really didn´t like this movie. Of course it is made for an audience who is used to see American movies. And see the Americans love the film! But there are much better movies coming from Germany. For example: MEIN STERN, BUNGALOW, UNTERWEGS ect. (I have to say that Wenders hasn´t made one of them). BELLA MARTHA just wants to proof that Hollywood-cliches can be filmed everywhere.
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I liked it but of course there are better German films. One of the actresses was wearing a shirt - "I'm really an actress" - maybe it was made with Americans in mind. Well I'm one American that liked it!
shareYes, of course there are great German movies like Aimee and Jaguar but even with all its shortcomings Bella Martha was watchable.
shareI liked it a lot. I like all sorts of films. I didn't consider this to be a chick flick, and the music was much better than most of the predictably loud hiphop and rock in most American movies.
"Mostly Martha" caused a slight problem in my own family: my mentally ill brother-in-law so identified with Martha's perfectionism, he nearly got a skillet banged on his head for bothering my sister as she cooked. I hope he is now seeing a psychiatrist. I just hope he doesn't try the cheesecake recipe.
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That's funny that you should post this topic. When watching it I (an American) kept thinking that for a love story it was refreshingly un-American. Further, I was thinking that it would be nice for American producers to see how it's possible to make a subtle love story that doesn't rely on (too many) cliches and over the top sentimentalism.
It's interesting how two people can have diametrically opposed opinions about the same film: an American sees a German film as pleasantly un-American and a German sees a German film as too American. This disagreement does a good job of illustrating what a difference perspective makes.
I will not argue that (much) better German films have been made. I am not German so I don't have a fair perspective on the matter. I will rely on my German counterparts to draw their own conclusions. I'll try not to cloud my comment with an opinion on Wenders either. That's for another message board.
Perhaps this film is indeed aimed at an American audience. If that's the case then I'll swallow my pride and say that I fell for it completely. I enjoyed the characters, the setting and the story. That being said, I don't feel pandered to in the least bit.
I agree totally with this assessment. "Bella Martha" seemed very unsentimental and real to me, and as such totally unlike most facile American romcoms. As a chef who has worked with chefs of all nationalities, I have to say the restaurant/kitchen scenes were the most realistic I've ever seen in any film (well, outside of "Tampopo" or "Babette's Feast"). For that reason alone I think this is a worthy film.
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