The German title of Young Goethe in Love is Goethe!. The exclamation point is supposed to foster hopes of exuberant energy and good humor that would be expected from 23-year-old Johann Goethe (Alexander Fehling), a deliberate failure at his law school, intent on becoming famous through his writing. He’s reliably arrogant about his talent before he even knows what it is, too sure of himself at the start. Through Fehling, that produces a few entertaining moments, but then his disbelieving father sends him to the backwater town of Wetzlar, to learn law at the Superior Court of Justice, in the hope of making him a lawyer rather than seeing him stick to his fanciful notions of writing. There, at the Court, he is accepted on the basis of who his father is by the President of the Court, and Kestner (Moritz Bleibtreu, who I haven’t seen since Run Lola Run—but who has done a great deal since then—and who is not only a welcome sight again, but he’s also an acting chameleon, hugely talented in inhabiting any role), a humorless man who looks upon Goethe with disdain.

At one of the most boring dances ever captured on film, deliberately so, Lotte Buff (Miriam Stein), sudden matriarch of a poor family after the death of her mother, bumps into Goethe, spilling wine on him. Playfully, she says she’s not interested in him and walks away. Playfully, he claims he’s not interested in him. Then he calls on her at her house, which is crowded with all her young brothers and sisters, and these are the only moments in which Young Goethe in Love has life. They make bread for the family, she draws his silhouette, they sing, and they quickly grow attracted to each other. The rest of the movie misses out on this good-heartedness, as Lotte’s father (Burghart Klaubner) introduces her to Kestner with the hope of marrying her off to him, since he’s rich and could provide for the large family. Hidden misunderstandings abound, Goethe helps Kestner win over Lotte without knowing that it’s Lotte, and this all leads to a duel which matters nothing. All that matters is what Goethe goes through to lead him to become the writer he was always meant to be.

Young Goethe In LoveBeautiful cinematography abounds, shots of meadows and rainy forests, but that’s all it offers. There’s no other energy in the surroundings, in the people. It puts so much in because there’s nothing much else to give, but it really doesn’t look like it because we wait for something, anything, to happen, that matches that first extended sequence between Goethe and Lotte. There’s no real tension laid out between Goethe and Kestner. He is who he is, not trying to be villainous, and Goethe is who he is, not trying to be anything that he’s not, which would be expected of Goethe, but what else can be done? Making waves in a court of law? Impossible. This court of law would not allow it. It’s as gloomy and trying as the rest of the movie. The BBC miniseries Bleak House came to mind as an example of the drama and comedy that can be created in the same kind of setting. I wished for a Tulkinghorn, for Gillian Anderson, for something better than everything here. I never got it.

Music Box Films provided only a screener, without extra features, but I suspect that I’m not missing much from not seeing “The making of Young Goethe in Love,” and “The visual effects of Goethe,” along with theatrical and international trailers. This is the first time that I’m glad not to have been permitted to see extra features. It’s less time that I had to spend with Young Goethe in Love. I know that there are better German films than this. I hope to see more of those soon.