The Good German – Modern Noir

Steven Soderberg’s The Good German (2006) stars George Clooney, Tobey Maguire and Cate Blanchett amongst others. It is set in bombed out Berlin in 1945 and has that stylish 1945 aesthetic – black-and-white, ruins and costumes that can make any one look absolutely gorgeous. Jake Geismer (Clooney) arrives to report on the peace conference and try to locate an old acquaintance Lena Brandt (Blanchett). Geismer’s assigned a driver Tully (Maguire), who just happens to be involved with Lena.

The set-up and the plot are quite frankly old school traditional Film Noir. It does a really good job of it, too. Everyone has their own agenda. There’s the treacherous woman (Blanchett) who has collaborated with whoever can help her out of dire situation involving her husband. There’s the young cad, Tully, played surprisingly well by Maguire, who sees the whole situation as an excellent way to get rich quick taking advantage of the lawlessness of post-war Berlin, and Geismer (Clooney) who stumbles into the middle of the convoluted situation with political, personal and social implications. We’ve got Americans and Russians and Germans trying to work out what’s what and track down any Nazi criminals and collaborators still hanging around. We’ve got the classical Noir love story where the girl is not as innocent as she might seem. Lena does whatever she has to which comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with the genre.

You can’t not like it. It’s stylish and plot-twisty and impressive. You have to excuse the crappy fake-German accents and the somewhat stylized performances, because they are as true to the genre as the music. Let me just say that the music composed by Thomas Newman is so bang on the money that it makes you believe someone actually dug this role of film up from a 1945 vault somewhere. Except for the swearing. And the nudity. And the violence.

We are after all a modern audience and wouldn’t have it any other way… The decorum has changed since the days of the Maltese Falcon after all.

You do, however, need the same kind of understanding that you would bring to an honest-to-goodness 1940something black-and-white movie, or you really won’t appreciate this effort. And it has that “hero can get up and pick a fight after having been knocked unconscious twice and drunk a half bottle of scotch” aspect. The actors and actresses picked for the leads are those that could easily translate into the Hollywood star system of the 1940s, both in regards to status and looks.

One thing you should not ask yourself, though, is why. Why make a replica of a genre that has been done already, and done better with more legitimacy? Why make Blanchett come across as a cheap Marlene Dietrich copy, or try and seduce us with all Hollywood sets and period lenses? It seems indulgent to say the least. As long as you don’t ask those questions you’ll be fine.

Part of the glamour of the period is that it is unattainable in a high-tech post-modern world. Our position can only ever be ironic and distant, no matter how much homage we cram into the context. Part of the love affair we have with this glamour of the past is that it has a certain naiveté that has been irrevocably lost. That’s why I feel L.A. Confidential is a better Noirish tale. It remains true to the ideal, but deals with it from a less sentimental standpoint.

Mule