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| Aimée & Jaguar | |
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It's 1943, and Allied bombers have left Berlin in ruins. Lilly Wust (Juliane Köhler) has earned her Cross of Motherhood, bringing up four children while husband Günther (Detlev Buck) is away fighting on the Eastern front. Then Lilly meets the assured Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader). |
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Lilly first suspects a male admirer is behind a love letter she gets signed "Jaguar". But it is from Felice, who brings out in Lilly (her "Aimée") entirely new feelings, and they fall madly in love. Only when Lilly wants a divorce do the storm clouds appear, not least because Felice is Jewish and fighting for the Resistance.
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| There isn't usually
much room in films about National Socialism for anybody other than dyed-in-the-wool
Nazis and suicidal Hitler assassins. But Aimée & Jaguar is different:
Köhler's hausfrau starts off by spouting anti-Semitic slogans until Felice
puts her to shame, and she is soon in the eye of the hurricane, torn by
her conflicting emotions. |
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| "Longing, gulfs, transcending boundaries &emdash; it would be stupid to minimise these terribly German traits," says writer/director Max Färberböck about this true story. "The film salutes what life can bring forth." | |