My Wonderful Wanda

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My Wonderful Wanda

Released Apr 23, 2021

1h 52m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

67%

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21 Reviews

50%

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

Winner of awards at Tribeca and Vancouver, MY WONDERFUL WANDA is a delightful satire of the haves and the have-nots set against the backdrop of a gorgeous lakeside villa in Switzerland. At the story's center is Wanda (Agnieszka Grochowska) a Polish caretaker who has left her own small children in Poland to look after Josef (André Jung) the stroke-ridden patriarch of the wealthy Wegmeister-Gloor dynasty. Wanda is adept in navigating the tricky family dynamics between the two grown (if still childish) offspring and the elegant if controlling matriarch Elsa (an amazing Marthe Keller), along with the sporadic intervention of animals stuffed or alive. But an unexpected turn of events turns everything upside down. While MY WONDERFUL WANDA exposes present-day realities of class injustice, thanks to writer-director Bettina Oberli's empathetic lens, it is never less than a very human comedy.

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Sheri Linden

The Hollywood Reporter

Oberli is more interested in the interplay of her characters than a barbed look at geopolitics, an approach that clicks only to a point in this well-performed but overlong and uneven feature.

Apr 22, 2021

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Alissa Simon

Variety

It's an engaging, mostly well-acted tale, full of surprising twists, even if some seem a bit too on the nose.

Apr 22, 2021

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Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

New York Times

It loses emotional momentum with each new section.

Apr 22, 2021

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Calum Cooper

In Their Own League

The subtext is interesting, but it’s hard to fully appreciate beneath the repetitive arguments and half-baked scenarios.

Rated: 2/5

Jul 14, 2024

Full Review

Keith Garlington

Keith & the Movies

As everything comes to a head, the film’s comical and combative vibes gives way to a overarching sense of sadness and uncertainty.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 17, 2022

Full Review

Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

Well paced and energetic, My Wonderful Wanda picks just the right moments to introduce real emotion into the mix.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 14, 2021

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witold r

A young, beautiful and very nice single mother of two boys from Poland comes to look after the disabled 70-year-old Josef from a wealthy family of Swiss industrialists. Wanda - the senior's favorite, caring, competent - and eager to provide the infirm master of the house with supplementary services for extra remuneration - is also the object of undisguised sighs of his son Gregi - not entirely successful successor of his father in managing a construction company. Her next stay in the Wegmeister-Gloor family is caused by an attempt to persuade employers to "contribute" to the maintenance and upbringing of her future child - also to keep this shocking fact secret from the world - resulting from Wanda's pregnancy as a result of her overly intimate contacts with Josef. The storm in the family brings two positive solutions: the senior regains power in his legs, plus it comes to a settlement - a child for the generous financial benefits of Josef's childless daughter, Sophie, with her husband Manfred as the formal, though fictional father of a newborn. The further fate of the Wanda family Wegmeister-Gloor relationship will be equally surprising, but will be told equally lightly, with both squinting eyes on the raging emotions on both sides of the conflict (Wanda's father and her mother will appear, a cow - a gift from Gregi and, to increase the chaos , two sons of the protagonist!). It is full of surprising twists and sparkling with surprises and wit, rich in threads, but above all very funny Swiss production - mainly due to an excellent script (Bettina Oberli, Cooky Ziesche) - also paying attention to the effects of breaking the border in the gastarbeiter-employer relationship with a polish native motif and a great creation of Agnieszka Grochowska, perfectly partnering Marthe Keller as the employer and wife of the senior, Elsa, and - on the other extreme of achievements - the charging Cezary Pazura.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Bettina Oberli

Director

Agnieszka Grochowska

Wanda

Marthe Keller

Elsa

André Jung

Josef

Birgit Minichmayr

Sophie

Jacob Matschenz

Gregi

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Synopsis

Winner of awards at Tribeca and Vancouver, MY WONDERFUL WANDA is a delightful satire of the haves and the have-nots set against the backdrop of a gorgeous lakeside villa in Switzerland. At the story's center is Wanda (Agnieszka Grochowska) a Polish caretaker who has left her own small children in Poland to look after Josef (André Jung) the stroke-ridden patriarch of the wealthy Wegmeister-Gloor dynasty. Wanda is adept in navigating the tricky family dynamics between the two grown (if still childish) offspring and the elegant if controlling matriarch Elsa (an amazing Marthe Keller), along with the sporadic intervention of animals stuffed or alive. But an unexpected turn of events turns everything upside down. While MY WONDERFUL WANDA exposes present-day realities of class injustice, thanks to writer-director Bettina Oberli's empathetic lens, it is never less than a very human comedy.

Director: Bettina Oberli
Producer: Lukas Hobi, Reto Schärli
Screenwriter: Bettina Oberli, Cooky Ziesche
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films
Production Co: Zodiac Pictures
Genre: Drama
Original Language: German
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 23, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 6, 2021
Runtime: 1h 52m

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