Du sollst nicht begehren...: A Relic of Guilt

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Probably not, unless you’re deep into the archives of German cinema from that era. If you enjoy slow-burn dramas where characters spend half the runtime sighing heavily, you might find something here. But if you’re looking for a plot that moves, run away. Fast.

It feels like a play that got lost on the way to the stage. There’s a lot of talk about morality and desire, but it all feels a bit stiff. It reminded me a little of the pacing issues in Traffic Regulations, where you’re just waiting for the next actual event to happen.

The vibe

Everything is so serious. The camera barely moves. Sometimes a character just stands in a room for what feels like five minutes of real-time just looking sad. It’s funny in a way, I guess? Or maybe just exhausting. It made me miss the more chaotic energy of Half Shot at Sunrise.

• The lighting is very... grey.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had never actually heard two people argue before.
• I definitely saw a shadow of a microphone boom in one corner.

There’s this one scene near the middle where a character is trying to decide whether to walk through a door. They look at the handle, they look at the window, they look at the floor. It goes on forever. My cat walked past the screen and even he looked bored.

It’s not all bad, though. Frida Richard has this way of looking at people that’s genuinely unsettling. She carries more story in her eyebrows than the script does in its entire second act. It’s a shame the rest of the film doesn't quite keep up with that level of intensity. It feels a bit like watching a paint-drying competition sometimes.

If you liked the somber, slightly claustrophobic feeling of Shattered, maybe you'll dig this. But don't expect it to change your life. It's just... a movie. A very old, very quiet movie that seems terrified of doing something unexpected. 📽️