We are in Germany before World War I. Karl Hoffmeister (Alan Rickman) is the aging and ailing husband of young Lotte (Rebecca Hall). He is also an industrial magnate in need of a successor. Enter Friedrich (Richard Madden), a metallurgist with a head for business. He is soon welcomed not only into the industry but into their home. What follows is 90 minutes of Lotte and Friedrich stealing looks at each other, and Karl catching them at it-- at looking, that is, because that is just about the full extent of their indiscretion.
The War is the catalyst which sends Friedrich overseas to mine magnesium. Karl remains at home, dying, and Lotte watches. There's a lot of watching in this movie, and not a lot of plot. You would not miss much if you kept your thumb on fast-forward.
The problem with love stories is that they require chemistry between the lovers. There is no chemistry here. Literally, none. Rebecca Hall plays Lotte with an abundance of poise and dignity, and no small amount of charm. She's the animated one. Richard Madden, on the other hand, has a handsome but empty face. He wears his one blank expression throughout the movie. Except for the rare instances when he laughs, he is blank-- as blank when he's talking about war profiteering as he is blank when his crotch is being fondled by his high-spirited and adorable mistress (Shannon Tarbet), who calls him Fritz and disappears from the film early. Whatever feelings of desire come through are generated by the audience-- for me, that was a desire for the two of them to get on with things, or for the movie to end.
The key scene-- the one with actual insight into the emotional landscape adults muddle through --is effective, however, because it captures how very strange estrangement is when, with passing time, it displaces love. When Friedrich returns from overseas, after a decade, he and Lotte have become virtual strangers. The war has interrupted even their correspondence. They must take for granted, somehow, that they were once devoted to each other, if they are to live happily ever after. It is a worthy scene, but the scenes that come before, and even after, are too long in the telling, with too little told, and too little feeling touching the heart.
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