"¿Bin ich schön?" is a German German-language film from 1998 that has Spanish influences too as a great part of the movie is set in Spain. It runs for roughly 110 minutes and is among the most known career efforts by writer and director Doris Dörrie who was in her early 40s when she made this one, neither early in her career nor recent. German film buffs will find many familiar faces and names in the cast list that were probably even bigger back then than they are today like Potente (big breakthrough year for her), Wöhler, Berben, Ochsenknecht, Schrader, Dobra, Zielcke, von Borsody, Król, Makatsch, Schneeberger, Berger, Sander, John and Petri who won a German Film Award that year for two films this being one of them, probably the less decisive looking at her small role. I cannot say that this movie is among Dörrie's best in my opinion. It does have some solid moments, especially early on with Potente's story line, but that had a lot to do with Wöhler's presence too and I quite like him. But the longer it went the less significant this story also became, like the others, while finally resulting in the singing scene by Potente's character, which is when the film hits rock-bottom. So yes this is never a memorable film, not even during the dramatically tense moments like the scene when she cuts her wrists trying to commit suicide while with her older lover. It all feels a bit for the sake of it and staged and really rarely authentic. I would blame the material more than the actors. Maybe it was also 2-3 characters too many as the longer the film went, the more I felt it was lacking focus. There is almost always a distinct foreign component to Dörrie's films in a bit of a culture clash, but here it is not really more than the setting as Spanish people don't really play a role here at all. It's all about the Germans. Looking at the tremendous quantity of well-known and successful names in the cast here, it was definitely a missed opportunity as this film is evidence that script is always king if you want to make a good film. Unknown actors can deliver with a strong script, but big names rarely make a weak story work. This episodic drama that will have its 20th anniversary next year gets a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.
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