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Longing

Play trailer Longing 2006 1h 28m Drama Romance Play Trailer Watchlist
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81% Tomatometer 16 Reviews 50% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A happily married man becomes involved in an extramarital affair with an attractive waitress from a nearby town.

Critics Reviews

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Chris Chang Film Comment Magazine 06/17/2013
The restrained visual style (you could almost call it icy) conveys an all but clinical objectivity-there are numerous segments in the film that could easily pass as documentary. Go to Full Review
Matt Zoller Seitz New York Times 06/22/2007
3/5
Longing intrigues because it presents an outwardly decent man falling equally in love with two women but eschews simplistic judgments. Go to Full Review
V.A. Musetto New York Post 06/22/2007
3/4
[Director] Grisebach makes good use of her low-budget and nonprofessional leads. Just as the story is minimalist, so too is the documentary-like film's look: long static takes and tons of close-ups. Go to Full Review
Daniel Kasman d+kaz. intelligent movie reviews 04/04/2011
B
Jennie Kermode Eye for Film 12/07/2007
3.5/5
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Audience Reviews

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05/12/2008 A fence builder sits on the fence. Which way to go? To stay with his wife or go to his lover. Most of the film is in your face; much too close up with no action; I counted one shot of 30 seconds of a door. Then just as quickly as that Berlin Wall fell and all changed; so this East german pic had a quirky end with the whole film summarised by a girl in a playframe with a natty unanswered question... See more 04/15/2008 A movie about longing and infidelity. The long slow quiet stretches of this film serve to heighten the brief clumsy moments of passion - to illustrate its central theme of longing. This tension is cleverly built up through the framing of the normal rhythms of life against the break that the affair becomes . However the long slow parts are too long and too slow. And while clearly the mundane nature of the affair is an important part of the movie it feels too mundane to be interesting - too mundane to be good cinema. In the end I felt left with a piece of German cinema that was moderately good but decidedly not enjoyable. See more 02/22/2008 A bit too slow but otherways a really good movie. I recommend!! See more 01/30/2008 Fascinating study on loneliness, cynicism, love, passion, betrayal and indifference. On the background there's a desperate knowledge that everything has already been said, told, experienced: "been there, done that..." and the superbly romantic love story of Romeo and Juliet - how can you ever overcome a love like that?? or a story for that matter? a film of great actors, great script and a superb director. Sehnsuht is a masterpiece, where the desperation of the main character is acted out on a simultaniously funny and sad dance scene accompanied by Robbie Williams' "Feel"... See more 01/17/2008 Cambridge Film Festival 2007 See more 12/14/2007 2007-12 Very German, Very slow, open ending See more Read all reviews
Longing

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Movie Info

Synopsis A happily married man becomes involved in an extramarital affair with an attractive waitress from a nearby town.
Director
Valeska Grisebach
Producer
Peter Rommel
Screenwriter
Valeska Grisebach
Production Co
Peter Rommel Productions, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen
Genre
Drama, Romance
Original Language
German
Runtime
1h 28m