Actor Jonas Chernick embodies, in the role of the moderately successful writer and university lecturer Joel, something of an archetype of Jewish cinema: a neurotic intellectual full of self-doubt, whose jokes are usually self-deprecating and who has a talent for negative thinking. Reminiscent of the kinds of characters Woody Allen has portrayed in a number of his films, here this archetype undergoes an essential update for the 21st century: Joel constantly strives for correctness, apologises for the mansplaining (which he indulges in anyway) and carefully seeks his partners’ consent before sex.
Nowadays, even middle-aged men are allowed to talk about their feelings – and Joel makes the most of the opportunity. It works better with the people he has only recently met, and less so with those he has known for a long time. And thus the process of separation takes its own peculiar course. A softly-spoken, laconic film in which shifting moods and inner experiences take up more space than the external plot itself. Fortunately, Joel’s archetype is also characterised by a rich sense of humour – on the gallows, in bed, and beyond.
Text: Susanne Stern