Aimee and Jaguar (1999)

Juliane Kohler was so stunningly beautiful as Eva Braun in DOWNFALL that I just had to see this movie to see her in action once again.

Unfortunately, this movie is no DOWNFALL. Instead of grinding terror and tension, there's only a faint sense of malaise. The destruction of the Nazi state is presented as faintly annoying background noise rather than a cataclysmic event. The real focus of the film is on two women drawn together by lust -- a Jewish bohemian and a placid German housewife. But the two doomed lovers never really seem truly passionate, nor is there any sense of danger and terror all around.

Maybe this story would have worked better if it had been set in the Weimar Republic instead of Nazi Germany. Then all the high-living party scenes with the dazzling Jewish heroine showing off her wit and irreverence in public would be more believable. And the placid, oblivious blonde housewife would be easier to forgive for her bland submission.

Fmovies: What sets this apart from your typical Jew/Nazi movie was that it was a love affair between a wife of a Nazi hero and a Jewish girl who does not wear a star and is an assistant to the newpaper editor of Berlins biggest paper.

The courage and nerve these young kids had is breathtaking and the disaster that they befell at the hands of the Nazis devastated me more than most typical Nazi movies. At some point I had a revelation. I understood that there was no imbalance of power. I realized that the Nazis were not all powerful as I had presumed. All around them were people of the same, if not more strength, opposing them. The resistance was as cunning and determined as the Nazis - it was inevitable that good would win. There is a line in the movie where one girl is telling another girl who is reprimanding her for something, "You did not create the world - God did." Wonderful way to say - you can't judge me.

The love making scene is hard to watch. Don't get me wrong - I am not prejudice - it is hard to watch because the Lilly is so scared and beaten (psychologically, physically) by Nazi men and when the Jewish girl (Felice) kneels at Lilly's feet and just holds her ankles and rests her cheek on the Lilly's calves you are in as much pain as the Lilly. The actress who plays Lilly just breaks your heart because her whole body is wracked in these hysterical shivers and no words. It is the old saying put before you in the form of these two women - one Nazi, one Jewish - that `the master becomes the slave' And of course it symbolized the whole Nazi situation. It is what Shakespear tried to to teach us in MacBeth - the blood was so much more powerful than the knife.

Awesome acting job, awesome directing job, awesome script-everything about this movie is awesome! Jaguar's character is a combination of Buffy, Xena, and Winston Churchill. By day, she's Felice Schragenheim, the docile, polite writer for a Nazi newspaper. By night, she's Jaguar, the assertive, insurrectionist fighter for the German Resistence.

The movie also does a great job of portraying lesbian love as just as valid and intimate as heterosexual love. Aimee and Jaguar cultivate a loving, compassionate, loyal relationship. Whether or not it is recognized by religion or government, Aimee and Jaguar are married. They even raise children together. I hope this movie will divulge Jaguar's prowess and humanity and stimulate curiosity about this great woman.

Aimee and Jaguar fmovies. "Aimee and Jaguar" tells of the love which blossoms between two women, one married with four children and one a Jewess, in 1943/44 Berlin. Beautifully filmed and character-driven with splendid directing and superb performances, there's little to fault in this film as two women cleave to one another under the pall of war, the terror of bombing, and the absence of men. The only liability "A&J" has is the subject may not whet the interest of many.

The setting is Berlin during the last days of World War II. Aimée and Jaguar are nicknames for two women. Jaguar, or Felice Schragenheim, is played by Maria Schrader, a painfully slender, winsome, enigmatic, and devastatingly beautiful actress whose character rolls through this story like a loose cannon. She is well matched by Aimée, or Lilly Wust, played by Juliane Köhler, attractive but older, by turns lustful and distraught.

To survive in difficult times, young Felice poses for nude photos, works in a newspaper office, and gives dance lessons. Lilly is a housewife, mother of four small children, and her husband is at the eastern front. She entertains single men while her children go to the zoo "again?" Felice conceives a passion for Lilly from afar and writes her a romantic letter, signed "Jaguar."

I don't want to spoil the story, so I will say no more about it. This is a frankly sexy, exceedingly passionate movie based on a true story. The acting is spectacular, the recreation of time and place is convincing enough, and the music and photography are exemplary. In German with English subtitles. Highest recommendation.

In a few scenes, especially during the first hour, I had the impression that I was getting the text of what was being said, but was missing the subtext--i.e., what was really going on. I plan to watch it again before sending it back to Netflix, something I've not done previously (though I came close with High Noon). If you suspect that I conceived a passion for Felice from afar, you'd be right; you might, too, if you see this movie. But see it also because it's simply excellent from beginning to end.

Alan Nicoll

Lilly, a mother-of-4, disappointed by her unfaithful huband is eagerly looking for love. - In a war-time Berlin where insanity rules: a murderous Nazi-dictatorship leaving no space for freedom, constant allied bomb attacks destroying and killing. She finally finds love in Felice (brilliant: Maria Schrader), a Jewish girl, part of the Berlin Lesbian scene. Lilly breaks with her husband, despite (or because?) of all the terror around they are having an intense love affair until finally the terror proves to be stronger... All this sounds very made-up but it is a true story. Lilly is still living in Berlin having stayed alone since then. And all this sounds like a kitschy and schmaltzy movie, but thanks to the fact that it is not a Hollywood production it isn't. Much more it is overwhelming and always stays near-to-life. A movie about the huming being's will to be happy despite all insanity. Absolutely recommended!