Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Freiheit für die Liebe" or "Freedom to Love" (also the last words of the film I think) is a West German German-language production from 1969, so this one will soon have its 50th anniversary. of course, there are dubbed versions as well. This 85-minute documentary movie was made by Eberhardt Kronhausen and Phyllis Kronhausen, a married couple I think and it is an occasionally interesting perception of sexuality in the 1960s, or it tells audiences how to perceive it and not to judge it whatever it may look like, so you can call this film definitely fairly progressive. However, as honorable as its message may be, this is just not enough for this runtime. The facts and figures stated in here as well as the makers' opinions and theses felt so dry to listen to from start to finish and what we see is hardly any better. It is basically a visual demonstration of what we hear from the narrators, so this film may actually work better as an audio cassette. Or it will maybe talk you to sleep as well. Emotions, enthusiasm and "voice acting" were missing entirely during the watch. I understand that they wanted to make this apparently an entirely fact-based film, but still.. You have to keep your audience somehow involved and interested and with regard to that the film does not succeed at all, which is why I believe 4 stars out of 10 is still fairly generous and really just for the open-minded approach from the Kronhausens. The nudity and sex scenes also did not feel successful from an artistic perspective and to me it just felt at times like a low-quality porn movie. I do not recommend the watch. Thumbs down.
