主播大秀

Inspired by a true story, Longing is a sympathetic portrait of a cheating husband by German writer/director Valeska Grisebach. Andreas M眉ller stars as Markus, a small-town firefighter whose passions burn out of control but who is sadly wanting of charisma. Grisebach draws more engaging performances out of the women, particularly Ilka Welz as his devoted wife. But this tips the film off balance and means that, in the end, it fails to tug the heartstrings.

This wouldn't be a European arthouse film without at least one suicide and Grisebach gets it out of the way early on. Markus is the first man on the scene and the trauma sends him on a downward spiral. A drunken evening with the lads illustrates just how bad he feels, as he tips his head back and waves his hands in the air to Robbie Williams' Feel - "I don't wanna die, but I ain't keen on livin' either..." It's one of Grisebach's less subtle moments, but then she boldly cuts to the morning after when Markus wakes up beside waitress Rose (Anett Dornbusch).

"STYLE ISN'T BACKED BY SUBSTANCE"

Markus bounces back and forth between Ella and Rose with very little dialogue and a lot of moody posturing. His existential crisis is merely hinted at and never properly explored, and so his indecision becomes increasingly irritating. Welz offers the only palpable sense of desire, most notably in a scene where she asks Markus to look into her eyes. Grisebach clearly has a feel for the rhythm of real life, creating the impression of a documentary without the affectations of shaky-cam, but her style isn't backed by substance. Yes, it does makes you think about life, love and death, but especially about how 88 minutes can seem to last forever...

In German with English subtitles.

Longing is released in UK cinemas on Friday 18th May 2007.