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Maria Schrader, Juliane Köhler, Heike Makatsch, Johanna Wokalek, Elisabeth Degen ... see more see more... , Detlev Buck , Inge Keller , Kyra Mladeck , Ulrich Matthes , Peter Weck , Rosel Zech , Margit Bendokat , Jochen Stern , Hans-Christoph Blumenberg , Klaus Manchen , Sarah Camp , Desiree Nick , Patrizia Moresco , Karin Friesecke , Dani Levy , Lya Dulitzkaya , Lia Dultzkaya

The opening film of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival in 1999, Aimée & Jaguar drew attention not only for the lesbian love story that it narrates, but equally for the political position of t... read more read more...he lovers -- Aimée, the wife of a Nazi officer, and Jaguar, a Jewish journalist. The story is based on the memoirs of Lilly Wust (the Aimée character), who is 85 and still living in Germany. In 1943, as Allied bombers leave Berlin in ruins, Lilly Wust Juliane Köhler earns a Cross of Motherhood for bringing up four children while husband Günther Detlev Buck is away fighting on the eastern front. She leads a bourgeois existence, with occasional love affairs on the side, and the bust of Hitler is a prominent decoration in their flat. When Lilly receives a love letter signed 'Jaguar,' she suspects a male admirer. But it is the self-confident Felice Schragenheim Maria Schrader who initiates this forbidden romance. A passionate love affair begins amidst the bombing raids and the threat of persecution. Madly in love, Lilly wants to divorce her husband, which causes a terrible storm, not just because her lover is a woman, but because she is Jewish and fighting for the Resistance. But nothing stops the love-blind Lilly. The two women make a pact of love and marriage and try to block out the reality of war and persecution; however, the Gestapo soon catches up with them. Aimée & Jaguar is based on Erica Fischer's best-selling book, published in 1994 and translated into eleven languages; the real life Lilly Wust was 80 years old when she told Erica Fischer her story. Maria Schrader and Juliane Köhler shared the Silver Bear for the Best Actress at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, for their roles in Aimée & Jaguar, while the film received the Teddy Award, given to films dealing with gay and lesbian issues. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

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84% liked it

4,809 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

48 critics

Unrated, 2 hr. 7 min.

Directed by: Max Färberböck

Release Date: August 11, 2000

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DVD Release Date: October 23, 2001

Stats: 242 reviews

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Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Maria Schrader as Felice Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" On-set photo of "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar" On the set of "Aimee & Jaguar" in 1998 On the set of "Aimee & Jaguar" in 1998 On-set photo from "Aimée & Jaguar" Still from "Aimee & Jaguar"
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Flixster Reviews (242)

  • purplemegan
    February 9, 2007
    purplemegan
    i really liked this movie. Another one of my Library Media finds.
  • InaHH
    February 23, 2006
    InaHH
    Great, great film. Touching, historically mostly accurate and great acting.
  • Turfseer
    March 26, 2010
    Turfseer
    Worthwhile Holocaust-themed melodrama

    *** This review may contain spoilers ***

    I have mixed feelings about "Aimee and Jaguar" but more positive than negative. It's based on a true story set in Berlin in 1943. The film however begins in the present as we're introduced to one of ... read morethe protagonists as an old woman. We then flash back to the war years where we meet Lilly Wust, married with four children, with a German soldier husband who occasionally comes home from the front. Felice is a Jewish lesbian, boldly hiding out with forged identity papers, working for a Nazi newspaper editor (brilliantly played by Peter Weck). Felice's girlfriend Ilse is Lily's household servant. When thrill-seeker Felice spies Lilly for the first time, she's determined to make it with her simply as a game. But after Lilly's marriage falls apart, the two fall in love. Along the way, one of Felice's lesbian friends is shot down in the street by the Gestapo. After about a year and a half, Felice's cover is blown and she's shipped off to a concentration camp where she presumably is killed (in real life, Felice's fate is unknown to this day).

    Most of "Aimee and Jaguar" focuses on the relationship between the two lovers. It's a mature look at a budding lesbian relationship and there are some sensitively photographed love scenes. Felice adopts the masculine persona of 'Jaguar' and Lilly is the demure 'Aimee'. Most of the conflict within the relationship is primarily centered on Lilly's confusion about her sexuality, self-worth and decision to involve herself with Felice whose sensitive side is repressed due to her constant fear of being arrested by the Nazis.

    While the relationship between the two lovers is at times compelling, it also becomes a little tiresome due to the fact that it's unnecessarily drawn out.

    "Aimee and Jaguar" is also a subtle Holocaust-related story, focusing on how ordinary German civilians reacted during the Nazi horror. Not all the Germans are happy with Hitler. In an early scene, Lilly's Nazi lover overhears Lilly's father badmouthing the regime and threatens to turn him in. Others act totally out of self-interest: a woman ends up selling black market food coupons to Felice and her friends inside a bathroom while they're attending a Nazi social function at a hotel. And then there are the hard core Nazis, such as Felice's newspaper editor employer who boasts that the German people are capable of "tremendous feats" despite all the bad news coming in from the war front.

    In addition to the intense interplay between Felice and Lilly, there's also some nice tension between Ilse and Felice after Ilse becomes jealous over Felice's newfound interest in Lilly. Less interesting and predictable are the long, drawn out scenes between Lilly and her husband, Gunther, whose excursions from the war front are never explained.

    Ultimately, the intensity of the performances of the actresses who play Felice and Lilly make up for the lack of conflict between the principal characters. As a history lesson, "Aimee & Jaguar" is also worth seeing, chronicling the Holocaust from the 'home front' perspective.
  • HarleyAngelWomen
    June 21, 2007
    HarleyAngelWomen
    This a really great good actress..they re pretty women...True story.. my favorite movies of all again...
  • nailphile
    June 15, 2007
    nailphile
    gut-wrenching and heart-breaking story about 2 women in love in Germany during WWII... and one's Jewish while the other is married to a Nazi.
  • heybarbara
    June 1, 2007
    heybarbara
    This film is truly a work of art. The cinematography is beautiful, the scenes are reminiscent of paintings from Caravaggio. The true strength of this film is the acting, especially from Juliane Kohler and Maria Schrader. But although I loved the movie, the book is ten times better.
  • brokenwings1026
    February 2, 2007
    brokenwings1026
    What a wonderful film. I fell in love with both of them. What love they had for one another. I think that I had that best sex of my life the night we watched this movie. Also a sad movie, for what happend in the end. Goes to show you that REAL love never dies. You keep it with you..
  • mitchf5
    January 12, 2007
    mitchf5
    A brilliant true love story. It's in German, with English subtitles, but superb acting based on the book, makes it well worth the watch!
  • freakshowsweetie
    March 20, 2006
    freakshowsweetie
    Interesting, exceedingly tragic with an air of impending doom right from the beginning. Though I admit, I was a little bored. I don't really like movies set in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, the beautiful love story somewhat saves it.

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Critic Reviews

Jane Sumner
February 14, 2002
Jane Sumner, Dallas Morning News

A vivid slice of life -- and love -- during the 1944 Allied bombardment of Berlin. Full Review

Charles Taylor
August 9, 2001
Charles Taylor, Salon.com

The film ... isn't up to the complexities the story raises, but it's a consistently engrossing piece of work. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
February 14, 2001
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

This is more than a same-sex success, it's a most affecting, most sensual on-screen love affair, period. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Schrader plays Felice with a kind of doomed and reckless bravery. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
January 1, 2000
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

Färberböck's engrossing debut conveys the devotion between Aimée (Juliane Köhler) and Felice Schragenheim (Maria Schrader). Full Review

Carla Meyer
January 1, 2000
Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

A lustrously shot, well-acted and immensely moving romantic drama. Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

It reminds us that the Holocaust continues to be a vital source for singular, inspirational stories. Full Review

Peter Brunette
January 1, 2000
Peter Brunette, Film.com

Its series of quiet but moving realizations of the utter ubiquity of the Nazi horror in every single aspect of life, even something as hidden as a sexual sub-culture, is powerful indeed.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
January 1, 2000
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A reminder that truth never ceases to be stranger than fiction. Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 1, 2000
Dave Kehr, New York Times

There is surprisingly little emotional amplitude. Full Review

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