I wish I could change my star-rating to 4.
I agree: All this praise of Wagner's film seems unwarranted. I was rather disappointed with it. My husband and I had the same reaction, immediately after viewing it: It seems to need more art, more fiction. It is indeed strange that somehow the daughters (apparently professional actresses) seem more "real" than their parents... or is it? Yes, I can hear the filmmaker and his fans saying that's just because this post-modern culture has conditioned us to see the fake as real, and vice-versa. But no matter; I found myself rather appalled and disgusted, during much of the film, and barely engaged.
There's a whole lotta pathos going on, that's for sure. I wonder about the "comedy" label.
I suppose the ending is supposed to be some kind of zen/enlightenment thing, but in my opinion it just fell flat. (I'm not sure if that qualifies as a spoiler, but I just wanted to play it safe.)
