This is an amazing film that captures the story of Germany before World War I. A married woman has a different romantic experience in her life when she falls in love with her husband's protégé. Now they seem to be committed to those specific duties and then to war, but they pledge to dedicate each other during that war.
The magnetism between these stiff nonstarters wouldn't stick to a fridge, especially when the war-ex-machina forces them apart for years but the only credible passing of time is our own.
If you only watch one Stefan Zweig-inspired film this year, watch The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you watch two, see The Grand Budapest Hotel twice. Awful.
This awkward, passionless drama conveys neither the sensuality nor the drawn-out sense of longing required by its period tale of a young secretary who falls in love with his employer's wife.
