The best of all Worlds (2017) by Adrian Goiginger - Review

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by Adrian Goiginger

grade: 7

It is no coincidence that a feature film like The Best of all Worlds has been a great success with audiences. All of this is due to skilful directing, but above all it is also due to two perfect protagonists, now totally confused in the cold outskirts of Salzburg, now simply happy to be in each other’s company. All this makes for a nostalgic glimpse into the world of childhood, when one was still too young to understand the ugliness of the adult world.

Mother and child

Among the most successful films produced in Austria in 2017 is undoubtedly The Best of all Worlds (original title: Die Beste aller Welten), directed by young Adrian Goiginger. Presented as a world premiere at the Berlinale 2017 – as part of the section Perspektive deutsches Kino – and awarded the Kompass-Perspektive-Preis, the feature film also won the Audience Award at the Diagonale 2017, where the protagonist Verena Altenberger – for her extraordinary performance – won the Großer Diagonale Schauspielpreis.

In short, a true success for the young filmmaker, who has made this The Best of all Worlds his most intimate and personal feature film.

Because, in fact, the story of little Adrian (a good actor, the very young Jeremy Miliker) staged here is just the same story that marked the childhood of the young director from Salzburg, fatherless and with a mother who was addicted to heroin, but also extremely loving and playful, who always did everything she could to guarantee him a peaceful and happy childhood.

Images of a joyful family by the river. Little Adrian finds an unusually shaped stone that seems to resemble an arrowhead. Immediately he wants to become an explorer. Just as one of his ancestors had once been. Adrian proudly shows the stone to his mother (the excellent Altenberger, indeed). Then, suddenly, evening falls and everyone is ready to enjoy the moment around a campfire. Everything seems perfect, until the camera lingers on a spoon in which a dose of heroin is dissolved.

An image, this one, that strongly contrasts with the light-heartedness and peace of little Adrian, who is still too young to understand the adult world, but who, thanks mainly to his relationship with his mother, manages to keep intact that innocence and carefreeness that have always characterised him. And this contrast between the adult world and the children’s world, between innocence and perdition pervades the entire The Best of all Worlds. What will prevail is the love between a still-too-young mother and her barely six-year-old son.

Because, in fact, what Adrian Goinger wanted to do in his The Best of all Worlds is precisely a love declaration to his mother Helga, who died prematurely and with whom he always had a strong bond. Despite numerous adversities.

In such situations, however, it often happens that personal emotions get the better of the rationality of the staging of events. Yet the director, despite his relatively short experience behind the camera, has managed perfectly to handle every single element, without ever becoming pathetic. And, above all, without letting personal emotions get the upper hand.

There is no lack of harsh and painful moments in this The Best of all Worlds. Similarly, frequent use of shoulder cameras emphasises the dramatic nature of certain scenes, further accentuating a certain suspense that has been with us since the beginning of the film.

Moreover, the entire feature film – well balanced in its script – is almost entirely supported by the performances of Verena Altenberger (with lots of intense close-ups to show us now her joy in the moments spent with her son, now her deep despair) and of young Jeremy Miliker. Both very good, both perfectly capable of changing mood without ever going over the top.

It is no coincidence, then, that a feature film like this has been such a great success with audiences. This is thanks to skilful direction, but above all also thanks to two perfect protagonists, now totally lost in the cold outskirts of Salzburg, now simply happy to be in each other’s company. All this makes for a nostalgic glimpse into the childhood world, when one was still too young to understand the ugliness of the adult world. There is always time to grow up. The important thing, however, is never to stop dreaming.