"Ein Fall von Liebe - Annas Baby" is a German television movie from 2014, so this one is already easily over five years old and this is the third from a trilogy. They had some massive gaps in there because the second film is from no less than three years earlier. The words on the left of side the hyphen are the title of the series, although actually back then it wasn't a series yet, but apparently these films were really successful and they turned it into an actual series immediately afterwards and produces new episodes much more frequently. I would say quantity over quality, but this could imply that these almost 1.5 hours we have here had some quality and this is absolutely not the case. On the contrary. I watched the second film a few days ago adnd that one was as horrible as this third film here. I am sure that once I watch the first film, I will be convinced that one film is one too many. By the way, Sandra Borgmann did not return for this film here as you could have guessed from the end of the second film, but I will get to the cast a little later. The director is Jorgo Papavassiliou and the writer is Ulrich del Mestre and they worked on several "Ein Fall von Liebe" movies. This means "A case of love" by the way and is a little play on words because the protagonist here is a lawyer. The specific title of this movie is "Anna's baby", just like in German pretty much. So yeah, those two people who were really in key positions for this film and others may have exotic names, but no talent comes with them. You will find Traumschiff, Bergdoktor, Soko, Ein Sommer... etc. in their bodies of work and everybody who knows a little bit about German television and films know also that these projects are as low as it gets quality-wise. So best is definitely to keep your expectations really low for this one and even if you do, most likely they will be disappointed nonetheless. As for the cast, I think it is still sad to see Francis Fulton-Smith attached to so many movies like this because here and there he has really shown us that he does have some range, but I guess these pay better than the more challenging ones and he takes the easy way for the money. Can you blame him? Not sure, but it's despicable that hundreds of films like this one here have been paid with GEZ money that the German people is literally forced to pay or else, in the worst case scenario, they have to go to jail until they pay. The good news is that the quantity of Degeto films like this one here seems to decrease a little bit now. I think back in 2014 when this was made, but also 2010 etc., Degeto released considerably more movies. I already talked a bit about the cast. I shall continue. The female lead is Mariella Ahrens here and I think she is really among the very worst German has to offer in terms of television actresses that regularly play(ed) lead characters. She has np range, no versatility at all. She may look slightly attractive for her age and that is all she has to offer. Sadly, this is enough apparently. I am a bit surprised she is credited only in position six here on imdb. She should be in the second spot, but obviously not in terms of quality, just in terms of screen time.
What can I say about the action here? About the plot? Well, it all feels cringeworthy and unrealistic. In the other film from this trilogy that I watched the courtroom action was already a big joke and here it is just as bad. What do we have? A key witness that all of a sudden tells everybody that she had sex with the accused in his truck. Charming. Of course, the accused's (or defendant's, can never remember the difference, shame on me) extremely pregnant partner sits in the courtroom too and is really humiliated. This is again where they component comes into play that ARD Degeto always add (more than) an ounce of mmisandry to their scripts, which feels even more shocking if the story got penned by males and not females as it is the case here. The actress who palyed the young pregnant woman was kinda cute though, but this does not say anything about her talent I guess. She did what she could with the script, but she had nothing really to work with either. So I think this story about the pregnancy and the cheating was still slightly better than the romantic banter between the two key characters. Oh, of course Ahrens plays such an amazing journalist that she also gets a promotion in an early scene. How everybody stands up and applauds was also really cringeworthy, just like her joking around with her boss later on. But back to the aforementioned banter: There were many moments that were tough to stomach. I will just mention too that were linked to the subject of relationships togetherness. One would be when Ahrens' character made a special meal and they talk about the significance of the name and how it is linked to their relationship. But the worst was probably a phone conversation when one character asks the other if he (or was it she? no I think Ahrens' character asked the question) finishes and there was a little misunderstanding about what was meant. Job or their relationship. Unreal stuff really. I cringed so hard there and it is pathetic with what they were going here from the comedic perspective. I do feel really bad for people who thought this was funny. Or that there was any depth or significance or realism to this movie. They were just going all in with the showy moments. Just take the scenes in which Ahrens' character talks to the bad guy and also the violent confrontation when FFS's character shows up right on time and shows us he is the stronger guy. Or the receipt part where she comes comes back to get it right after they talked about it. man it was all so poor. Ahrens is such a bad actress and we are supposed to see her as some touch undercover invesitigator here. I can only shake my head at that. I said earlier that the relationship between those two about to become parents was among the better aspects from this film and it may be true, but don't mistake this as good either. It was also really messed up. I already mentioned the revelation in the courtroom. Next issue would be the older lady that the young pregnant woman runs into. A touch of Moretz/Huppert there, even if Moretz's character was not pregnant in "Greta" and Huppert's was considerably older, but still. I mean it would have been okay here if it was really all just in the pregnant woman's mind and that the older woman was simply nice and not a weirdo, but when in the end the older woman actually drives off with the baby, it was another degree of terrible here. By the way, there was a scene in which Ahrens' character talked to FFS's about the baby and this was also again to show us how indifferent men must be. Please see through this, female audience members! Oh yes, we see the baby here too. A crucial moment in everybody's life, but it is rushed in for happy ending purpose. Or happiness purposes just because the ending was not near unfortunately at that point. Honestly, I was surprised that the crazy woman's man was so reasonable. For once a really likable male, how unusual. Nonetheless, his woman's craziness was also linked to sadness. They cannot put full blame on a female character in a Degeto movie. No matter how horrible her act. I shall end this review now with the ending of this movie and what do we have here? The two young people marry and our two protagonists are also in the room of course. Yes, they marry. Who cares if he just cheated on her. Who cares if they were basically split and that she said she does not want to see him, ever talk to him again. I mean it is okay she forgave him and also that he is maybe faithful now, but why go and get married immediately afterwards? Like why? It makes no sense. Oh wait, of course it does. Just offer more unrealistic happiness to everybody in the audience. This film is a tragedy. That's how bad it is. Kristin Suckow's and Fabienne Haller's looks cannot make up for the mess this film is from every other perspective. Highly not recommended. And, as I said earlier, the worst about this entire thing is really that it was backed up with a series. Shame on the people who made this decision and also on those who kept going, no matter if cast and crew. Absolutely skip!
What can I say about the action here? About the plot? Well, it all feels cringeworthy and unrealistic. In the other film from this trilogy that I watched the courtroom action was already a big joke and here it is just as bad. What do we have? A key witness that all of a sudden tells everybody that she had sex with the accused in his truck. Charming. Of course, the accused's (or defendant's, can never remember the difference, shame on me) extremely pregnant partner sits in the courtroom too and is really humiliated. This is again where they component comes into play that ARD Degeto always add (more than) an ounce of mmisandry to their scripts, which feels even more shocking if the story got penned by males and not females as it is the case here. The actress who palyed the young pregnant woman was kinda cute though, but this does not say anything about her talent I guess. She did what she could with the script, but she had nothing really to work with either. So I think this story about the pregnancy and the cheating was still slightly better than the romantic banter between the two key characters. Oh, of course Ahrens plays such an amazing journalist that she also gets a promotion in an early scene. How everybody stands up and applauds was also really cringeworthy, just like her joking around with her boss later on. But back to the aforementioned banter: There were many moments that were tough to stomach. I will just mention too that were linked to the subject of relationships togetherness. One would be when Ahrens' character made a special meal and they talk about the significance of the name and how it is linked to their relationship. But the worst was probably a phone conversation when one character asks the other if he (or was it she? no I think Ahrens' character asked the question) finishes and there was a little misunderstanding about what was meant. Job or their relationship. Unreal stuff really. I cringed so hard there and it is pathetic with what they were going here from the comedic perspective. I do feel really bad for people who thought this was funny. Or that there was any depth or significance or realism to this movie. They were just going all in with the showy moments. Just take the scenes in which Ahrens' character talks to the bad guy and also the violent confrontation when FFS's character shows up right on time and shows us he is the stronger guy. Or the receipt part where she comes comes back to get it right after they talked about it. man it was all so poor. Ahrens is such a bad actress and we are supposed to see her as some touch undercover invesitigator here. I can only shake my head at that. I said earlier that the relationship between those two about to become parents was among the better aspects from this film and it may be true, but don't mistake this as good either. It was also really messed up. I already mentioned the revelation in the courtroom. Next issue would be the older lady that the young pregnant woman runs into. A touch of Moretz/Huppert there, even if Moretz's character was not pregnant in "Greta" and Huppert's was considerably older, but still. I mean it would have been okay here if it was really all just in the pregnant woman's mind and that the older woman was simply nice and not a weirdo, but when in the end the older woman actually drives off with the baby, it was another degree of terrible here. By the way, there was a scene in which Ahrens' character talked to FFS's about the baby and this was also again to show us how indifferent men must be. Please see through this, female audience members! Oh yes, we see the baby here too. A crucial moment in everybody's life, but it is rushed in for happy ending purpose. Or happiness purposes just because the ending was not near unfortunately at that point. Honestly, I was surprised that the crazy woman's man was so reasonable. For once a really likable male, how unusual. Nonetheless, his woman's craziness was also linked to sadness. They cannot put full blame on a female character in a Degeto movie. No matter how horrible her act. I shall end this review now with the ending of this movie and what do we have here? The two young people marry and our two protagonists are also in the room of course. Yes, they marry. Who cares if he just cheated on her. Who cares if they were basically split and that she said she does not want to see him, ever talk to him again. I mean it is okay she forgave him and also that he is maybe faithful now, but why go and get married immediately afterwards? Like why? It makes no sense. Oh wait, of course it does. Just offer more unrealistic happiness to everybody in the audience. This film is a tragedy. That's how bad it is. Kristin Suckow's and Fabienne Haller's looks cannot make up for the mess this film is from every other perspective. Highly not recommended. And, as I said earlier, the worst about this entire thing is really that it was backed up with a series. Shame on the people who made this decision and also on those who kept going, no matter if cast and crew. Absolutely skip!
