I saw Christoph Waltz's picture as I opened my netflix and I Immediately knew I was going to watch this film, because Christoph has that bad boy charm. I remembered his performance in Inglorious bastards---the first film I'd ever seen him in and was expecting something similar here. In addition, this is his first film as a director, so you can of course call it his directorial debut.
The film claims to be based on real events events even though it doesn't claim to be the true story of those events. It's an unusual story, at least for me but with Christoph Waltz, you should expect the eccentric.
So here's a brief run down of the story:
A younger man by the name of Ulrich Mott marries a woman in her nineties and then she is killed and he gets arrested for her death. But there is more. His wife, Elsa Breht played by Vanessa Redgrave is not just any woman with money. She was an accomplished Journalist with social status who'd recently lost her husband. Ulrich Mott although charming as you watch him slowly reveals his inner ambition and the actual reason he chased after this woman so hard. He had the right words, the right compliments about her work and he was attentive to the fault of a butler when he married her. But he capitalizes on her socialite status and in something that is described as a social Ponzi scheme, he gains access to powerful people by introducing himself up the ladder through her and uses the names of those people he's met to name drop his way to other powerful people. Basically, a fervent social climber.
He lies a lot and she is quite gullible even for a woman of her accomplishments. I could see that she genuinely liked him and wanted the best for him as she was very proud when she spoke about him to others and pushed him to become more that someone who waited on her. Ulrich manufactures through his fantastic imagination, work that makes him feel important. He believes he's a general and was in Iraq. All delusions that bring a sense of grandeur to his existence. The only person who can see through him is Elsa's daughter Amanda Breht played by Annette Bening. She warns her mother to the point of tears but as a strong independent woman who had made it through the war and made a name for her self as an immigrant, Elsa felt she was more than capable to make the right choices for herself. She was unfortunately wrong this time.
I liked a lot of things about this film. Ulrich's devilishness and his shocking behavior towards his lawyers who he sent on silly fact chasing errands instead of cooperating with them was entertaining. I also loved how Elsa was not cast into a role of a typical silly old woman, easily manipulated. She had a personality regardless of age and I could see how any man would find her charming. This made the union between them not unbelievable. Infact, my heart ached when I watched this man mistreat her on the occasions that clearly showed his character and true intentions towards her status. Love really can be love regardless of age if the people in those relationships are genuinely there for one another.
I would give this an 8/10 and I highly recommend if you like dry humor and Christoph Waltz.