2006: The Good German

The Good German (Soderbergh, 2006) 6/10

Dating as far back as Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith, associations between stars and filmmakers have become noted in cinematic lore. From Anthony Mann's collaborations with Jimmy Stewart to Martin Scorsese's outings with Robert De Niro, these relationships have been long feted as a special artistic bond emerging from cinematic circles.

And while today, viewers are quick to note the six films of Burton and the three outings between Depp and Scorsese and DiCaprio, the frequent partnership between George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh has been surprisingly underrepresented.
Beginning with 1998's Out Of Sight, the pair have worked together on no less than six films as actor and director, as well as a multitude of collaborations through their joint production company Section Eight Productions including Christopher Nolan's remake of Insomnia and Clooney's sophomore film Good Night and Good Luck. The pair's most recent outing outside of the successful the successful Ocean's Eleven franchise was 2006's The Good German.

Adapted from Joseph Kanon's novel, Soderbergh's film is an experimental homage to the noirish Hollywood thrillers of yesteryear. Featuring odes and references to films such as Casablanca and The Third Man, The Good German stars George Clooney as Jake Geismar a war correspondent for the New Republic who lands in post-war Berlin to cover the realignment of Europe's post-war map underway at the nearby Potsdam Conference. Upon his arrival, Geismar is gifted a brash young driver named Tully (Tobey Maguire) to drive him from one location to the next.

Despite his boyish looks and enthusiasm, Tully is a con artist and violent manipulator; engaging in black market profiteering with the help of the Soviets, in order to assist his prostitute girlfriend Lena (Cate Blanchett) in her quest to leave Berlin. Unbeknownst to Tully, Geismar is already familiar with the mysterious Lena, as he too had once had an extended affair with her. Yet, Lena is not only the object of their obsessions. Her estranged husband Emil (Christian Oliver) is wanted by both the Russians and the Americans for their post-war rocket programs; leading both Tully and Geismar into an even deadlier and murkier world of murder, deception and Cold War politics.

Thematically, the film focuses on two concepts: obsession and guilt. Both Tully and Geismar are besotted by Lena. Their mutual infatuation with her is one that is sexually driven. Each either consciously (Tully) or unconsciously (Geismar) view Lena as belonging to them. Yet, Lena herself is a being easily detached from others. Her commitments and loyalties belong to Lena and only Lena. She is a selfish, brooding manipulator of men: using her sexuality for self-advancement in a world with restricted socio-economic mobility for women, particularly those with familial links to Nazism. Survival is her one true obsession.

Thus, Lena almost becomes a fusion of the numerous fictional German women that flooded post-war German literature and cinema. Prostitutes such as Fassbinder's Maria Braun- herself played by Hanna Schygulla in the spirit of Dietrich- whose central purpose becomes the necessity to survive. Amidst, the chaos of the wartime era, their black-market offerings ensure some stability in uncertain economic times. Yet, perhaps in part due to the untold levels of death and destruction, it is a guiltless tactic.

The theme of German guilt and complicity in the atrocities of the Nazi era is also central to the film. Lena repeatedly insists her husband is a good human being, literally a good German. Frequently during The Good German, Clooney's Geismar comes into contact with American officials at OMGUS, who are rummaging through libraries of files and documents in an attempt to separate the victims from their victimizers. Geismar's assertions that placing the entire country on trial is wrong may have come to fruition, but Lena's lack of remorse and guilt toward her actions in the film is an interesting concept that unfortunately Soderbergh does not explore to its full potential.

The Good German is an both an exercise in style and in homage. Shot in colour and then converted to crisp black and white, Soderbergh replicates the style of classic Hollywood thrillers of the Forties and Fifties through the extensive use of editing wipes, rear projection and stock footage. This ode to Hollywood's Golden Era extends into the acting as Clooney channels Bogart and Cary Grant; Blanchett mirrors Dietrich and Tobey Maguire adopts the clipped dialogue of an endless array of wiseguys. Yet, like most tributes, the film lacks the dynamics of the original.

The inclusion of sex scenes and swearing dilutes the potential for a complete deferential treatment, even if Soderbergh believed mimicking the last shots of Casablanca would merely suffice. While Blanchett's cold performance is a beautiful replication of Dietrich's finest work, Maguire is completely miscast. Appearing in monochrome in Pleasantville may have advanced Maguire's physical adaptability to black and white cinematography, but his ability to reach into the style of the era is severely limited and one-dimensional. Certainly, Ryan Gosling procuring the spirit of William Holden would have been a far better choice. Clooney suffices in a decent, if unmemorable turn as a lovelorn journalist.

Without question, the film's weakest element is Paul Attanasio's screenplay, which convolutes itself with a myriad of cloudy, twists that are often neglected and unresolved. Yet despite the lack of structure in its frail narrative, The Good German is still an interesting film for the curious filmgoer. Whilst the partnership between Clooney and Soderbergh fails to create the creative masterpiece the pair potentially strove toward, the film deserves to be watched for Cate Blanchett's scintillating performance alone.

* The Good German is available on DVD through Warner Home Video.

Copyright 2008 8½ Cinematheque