Honigfrauen – a German miniseries in three parts – is a historical drama about East and West set in 1986.
Most scenes take place at a camping site and a five-star hotel by Lake Balaton in Hungary.
This drama was shown on German television (ZDF) and released on DVD in 2017.
Here is some basic information about it:
** English title: Honey Women
** Director: Ben Verbong
** Writers: Natalie Scharf and Christoph Silber
** Language: German – no English subtitles!
** Run time: 88 + 87 + 88 minutes = 263 minutes
The cast includes the following:
** Cornelia Gröschel as Catrin Streesemann (daughter)
** Sonja Gerhardt as Maja Streesemann (daughter)
** Anja Kling as Kirsten Streesemann (mother)
** Götz Schubert as Karl Streesemann (father)
** Stipe Erceg as Tamas Szabo (manager of Balaton Residence)
** Dorka Gryllus as Zsofia (sister of Tamas)
** Franz Dinda as Rudi Hartwig (a tourist from East Germany)
** Dominic Raacke as Erik Waller (a tourist from West Germany)
** Sebastian Urzendowsky as Timo
** Alice Dwyer as Lilian
** Winnie Böwe as Agnes
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. This is why I am not going to say much about what happens in this drama. I will only offer a brief introduction and tell you how the story begins.
Honigfrauen is a historical drama; it is a fictional story placed in a historical context.
In this case, the historical context is the Cold War between East and West in 1986.
The focus is on East Germany (DDR) and West Germany (BRD), but most scenes take place at a camping site and a five-star hotel by Lake Balaton in Hungary (the German name of this place is Plattensee).
At the time, Hungary was a part of the Eastern Bloc, but it was open for tourism from East and West.
For East Germans, Lake Balaton was a paradise, because they had more freedom here than at home.
For West Germans, it was the second choice. You would go there, because it was relatively cheap (by western standards) and because you could not afford your first choice (for instance an island in the Caribbean Sea).
During the Cold War, Lake Balaton was a place where people from East and West would have a chance to mix with each other.
The East German secret police - the Stasi - was well aware of this fact. The Stasi had the so-called “Balaton Brigade” working at the site: secret agents in swimsuits who tried to blend in with the crowd in order to find out if any East German citizen was preparing to jump the fence and escape to the West.
What about the title of the drama?
What does it mean?
East German women were known by West German men as “Honey Women,” because they were eager to enjoy the freedom at Lake Balaton and they might be easy to impress. There might be a chance to have a romantic adventure with one of them.
On the surface, Honigfrauen is a romantic comedy. But beneath the surface it is a serious story about freedom and control, about love and hate, about trust and betrayal, and about being rich and being poor.
If somebody is nice to you in this place, you had better watch out. What does it mean?
Is it real? Or is it merely a trick?
Is this person honest? Or is there a secret agenda?
Not everything is what it seems to be. First impressions may be deceiving.
So much for the background.
Now I will tell you how the story begins:
Catrin and Maja are sisters - two young women from Erfurt in East Germany – who have been allowed to go on a holiday to Lake Balaton. This means the parents and the East German state have allowed them to go.
For Catrin and Maja this is a dream come true. This is their first visit to a foreign country, even if it is still within the Eastern Bloc.
They do not have much money, so they are hitch-hiking from Germany to Hungary.
Of course, they hitch a ride with some guys from West Germany. These guys are also going to Lake Balaton.
Of course, the girls meet the Hungarian Tamas, who is the manager of the hotel.
This is how the story begins, and this is where my presentation ends.
I will, however, offer one more piece of information. I will mention the headlines of the three parts (in English):
** Part 1 = A Holiday in Paradise
** Part 2 = Betrayal in Paradise
** Part 3 = A Wedding in Paradise
What do reviewers say about this drama?
On IMDb it has a rating of 68 per cent.
On Amazon Germany there are at the moment more than 250 ratings of this product, including more than 50 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.7 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 94 percent.
If you ask me, the former rating is too low, while the latter rating is more appropriate.
Why?
I have three reasons
# 1. The script is well-written and the actors play their roles well.
# 2. The story is captivating, dramatic and sometimes deeply emotional.
# 3. While fictional, the story is placed in a historical context which is (to a large extent) realistic.
I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).
PS # 1. Some reviewers claim historical truth is violated on several occasions in this movie.
Here are two examples:
(A) It took several weeks to get permission to visit Hungary. This is why it is unrealistic when Kirsten and Karl suddenly jump into their Trabi and drive from Erfurt to Lake Balaton.
(B) Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins is one of the songs used in this drama. But it is from 1989. This is why it should not be used in a drama that is set in 1986.
While such objections may be relevant, I am prepared to regard them as minor flaws. This is, after all, a historical drama and not a documentary film.
PS # 2. Lake Balaton is the key location in Westwind, a historical drama which was shown on German television (arte) in 2011 and released on DVD in 2012.
While Honigfrauen is a fictional drama, Westwind is based on a true story.
*****
Westwind
a historical drama
(based on a true story)
which premiered in 2011
*****
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