Horst_In_Translation Review of Kir Royal

Kir Royal (1986)

Never feels as funny, authentic or creative as I hoped it would

[4/10 · 23 January 2018]

"Kir Royal" is a West German German-language mini-series from 1986 and this one is now already over 30 years old. It was the last (mini-)series effort by writer and director Helmut Dietl who was in his early 40s at that point and who sadly died about two years ago. His popularity in Germany arising from previous projects was undeniable, so it should not be a surprise to anybody that he got some big names in here. The central character is played by Kroetz, who is not unknown, but also not as famous as some of his co-stars like Berger, Hildebrandt, Kubitschek, Zischler, Selge, Raab, Kier, Adorf and others, even if some of them only appeared in one episode. The entire thing consists of six episodes that all run for slightly under an hour, so you can see this one in less than six hours in one sitting if you have the patience or the "Sitzfleisch" as we say here in Germany. But maybe 3 sittings of under 2 hours may be the better choice. Or just don't watch it at all as honestly I really didn't think it was that good. The core of the film was the ways in which the German (especially Southern German high society) is depicted in here. But honestly, even if this was clearly intended as a satire, I must say that I would not be surprised if some of the cast members here actually were in real life like the characters they make fun of because honestly there are quite a few cast members seen in here, who gently-speaking have a degree of fame and popularity that is not justified by their talent or range (or lack thereof). This is basically a mix of comedy and drama overall. We also get an insight in the world of journalism and journalist who, against better knowledge, keep these celebrities famous and profit themselves from that too. This actually is an interesting reference to today's world of news and headlines in Germany where you will find, even on respected news websites, permanent articles about people who have no business being famous (Katzenberger, Lombardis, Thomalla², "influencers" etc.), so the series here may actually be ahead of its time and still applies 3 decades later. This is one of not too many positive things I can say here as the insight into the Schickeria we get here is as shallow and superficial as the people it parodizes. It is never a convincing character study about Baby Schimmerlos or any of the supportingf characters who better should have been left out as there is a great deal of mediocrity (or worse) in here when it comes to character writing. Dietl also wrote the script with his longtime collaborator Süskind and Kurt Raab, a little while after his mentor Fassbinder's death, also delivered his personal take on the story on one occasion. Overall, there aren't any episodes that stand out positively. It starts werak, stays weak and ends weak and I would rate them all the same I rated the entire 6-part series. I guess that's all I can say here and I do not agree with the rating here on imdb at all or with the mention that this is among Dietl's best career efforts and/or Germany's best mini-series. Skip the watch here. You won't be missing anything of quality. I give Kir Royal a thumbs-down.