Finale

Finale is a German TV movie. My general problem with TV movies is that they’re rarely great. There’s a cap on how good they can be. One thing Finale made me realize though is that at least most TV movies also have a cap on how bad they can be. Finale is the exception. I can’t understand what television station was willing to air this nothing piece of crap.

The film takes place during the 2006 football (soccer) world cup held in Germany. The first half of the movie uses various football matches as framework. Throughout the world cup, we follow Saralisa (Saralisa Volm), a call girl. Saralisa has a husband, though their marriage is breaking down. Then, Saralisa meets Anneke (Anneke Schwabe) and the world cup framework mostly vanishes. We then follow Saralisa and Anneke’s friendship which turns quickly sexual when Anneke learns Saralisa is a callgirl. Anneke is an actress playing a sexually provocative role. She is intrigued by Saralisa’s work and Saralisa allows her to come along to some of her calls. However, Anneke maybe gets a bit too into this.

My god, Finale has a thin, meandering plot. Writing that summary was hard because events just sort of happen and there’s very little through line between them. It’s also difficult to figure out which are important events or not. Really, none of them are. The most kind description of the film would be a casual slice of life movie. I’m not that kind though so I’m just going to call it shit.

In general, it just seemed like little care was given. Director Klaus Lemke has made dozens of movies. There are moments and ideas in Finale which also make me think he could probably direct a good movie if he wanted to. It just feels like he didn’t bother trying too hard with Finale. Maybe it was a pallet cleanser in between bigger projects. So much of this feels like a first draft. There’s an outline that maybe works but none of it is filled in.

The direction or at least, quality of the film is likewise lacking. Finale looks like 75 minutes of stock footage. The movie is shot on a low quality camera and no post-production cleanup was done. There’s also a good chunk of time dedicated to people just reacting to football. It honestly looks like someone’s camcorder footage of the football world cup. Again, maybe that could be an interesting idea in a film which feels more intentional but here it just looks lazy. And even if it was intentional, it is bad to look at.

Finale’s depiction lesbian sexuality is very, very bad. The male gaze is strong here. In scenes where Saralisa and Anneke get sexy, they’re always playing more to the camera than to each other. It’s reminiscent of porn in that way. Their sex scenes always feel like performance instead of passion. They’re far too aware of the camera and how to angle themselves in a way to show off their assets. Also, at one point after a session, one of them remarks that the only thing missing from their relationship is a dick. Very cool, Finale! I very much feel seen as a lesbian with this particular lesbian-focused movie.

Finale’s depiction of women is also pretty terrible. Though, to be fair, I don’t think its male characters have much more depth. However, the focus of Finale is two female characters and my god, they’re poorly written. For one thing, I can hardly tell the two leads apart. They have a very similar look and no unique personalities that allow me to separate which one is which beyond the fact that Anneke has bangs. This is one of those times where despite the fact that it is women speaking, every word out of their mouth sounds unavoidably male. The way these two interact with each other is unlike how actual female-female interactions are. It’s always filtered heavily through a male writer who doesn’t care particularly much.

Finale is a waste of 75 minutes. The film has little plot and little talent on display. The best thing I can say about it is that’s it’s forgettable. This isn’t a movie that will make me seethe with rage for years to come. It’s a movie I will largely forget by next week. All that will remain in my memory is a vague sense of two female characters I can’t tell apart, a lot of male gaze and some really bad quality camera work.

Overall rating: 1.7/10

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