Fashion Victims Online Watch

By Richard Bentley

The German director Ingo Rasper debuts with a comedy - Fashion Victims. The flick has already won many accolades including the prestigious Berlin and Beyond Festival's first - feature prize. It has also won an audience prize at the Max Ophuls Festival. The plot revolves around a middle-aged status obsessed family and their upheavals with gay romance as a sub plot thrown in.

Edgar Selge plays the role of Wolfgang Zenker who lives in a provincial German community. He has been booked several times for over speeding. He also has a stay-at-home wife in Erika (Franziska Walser). Wolfgang earns his livelihood by selling drab clothes for middle aged women. Roman Knizka plays the role of Steven, the young salesman, who rivals Wolfgang with his collection of new fashion conscious clothes which becomes an instant hit with the people. This, no doubt, creates a problem for Wolfgang.

His son Karsten (Florian Batholomai) is all set to join a Spanish language summer school. His father Wolfgang is driving him to the airport when he is again pulled up for crossing the speed limit. Due to his repeated offences, he receives an immediate ban on driving. On his father's insistence, Karsten is forced to stay at home and the sub plot takes shape from here.

In the sub plot we are shown that while running errand to the nearby dry cleaners, Karsten comes across Steven and they immediately begin to like each other. Obviously, he did not know that Steven was his father's sworn business rival. When he came to know about the truth Karsten was torn between two worlds - his undisclosed sexual leanings and his relationship with Steven which was not public. In the midst of all these Erika thinks of divorce while Wolfgang tries to over-extend himself at the bank.

The film does not make you sad at the end but shows a lot of reconciliations and compromises. Edgar Selge plays the role of Wolfganf Zenker to perfection one wonders whether anyone else could have played the role better. Franziska Walser as his doting wife plays his part well and looks at ease when portraying the emotional scenes. Florian Bartholomai as Karsten is good and convincing and should do well in future films too.

Fashion Victims movie has been appreciated all over and already in the reckoning for a few more awards. But this is not the usual run of the mill comedy but a very dark comedy. You cannot miss the despair and despondency of Erika, the emotional outbursts of Wolfgang and the personal turmoil that Karsten goes through. The film has been shot in perfect locations with some groundbreaking camerawork which makes the fim visually appealing.

The film might be a surprise package at the box office but we feel that you watch Fashion Victims online free first before you jump to any conclusion yourself. The movie has been critically acclaimed and whether this can lead to good DVD sales, only time will tell.

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