Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Traumstadt" or "Dream City" or "Dream Town" is a West German movie from 1973, so this one will have its 45th anniversary next year already. The director is Johannes Schaaf and he is also one of the several writers who adapted Alfred Kubin's novel for the big screen here. Another writer would be Rosemarie Fendel and she is also the one who plays the central female character here. Fendel is still relatively known today here in Germany, probably more than her male co-lead Per Oscarsson, who is perhaps more known in Sweden though. So yeah if you read the title here you perhaps guess correctly what this is about, namely a couple being fed up with their boring everyday life routine (especially the man) and they decide to accept an offer and move into a town supposed to be as beautiful as it could only be in a dream. And the result is pretty dark and sinister obviously as the longer the film goes the more our two "heroes" realize that if it really is a dream, then it would be a nightmare and there is lots of ugly stuff hiding behind the beautiful facade. Those who made this film also weren't scared of including explicit sexual content really, which on the one hand is good because taboos always suck, but on the other it's bad too because at times it feels as if this was just included to distract from deficits in other areas, so they made it more controversial that people would perhaps focus on these scenes more. However, overall I must say that i was not impressed here sadly. The film is not really working as critical towards society and in a brilliant way as "Das Millionenspiel" for example does. It also is not exactly a good thriller or horror film and the acting never got me on the edge of my seat either. I have not read the novel this is based on, so no idea if the base material is perhaps already the main problem or if it is the execution of the material, but the overall outcome is underwhelming. The way they did it they also did not manage to keep this film from dragging on quite a few occasions during its massive over 2 hours runtime. I suggest you watch something else instead. It was a bold endeavor, but not a successful outcome eventually.
