The Aftermath (2019) * *

Directed by:  James Kent

Starring:  Keira Knightley, Jason Clarke, Alexander Skarsgard, Flora Thiemann, Jannik Schumann

Even if I hadn't seen the trailers for The Aftermath at least two dozen times, there is nothing about the film which would captivate or surprise.    Everything is laid out in front of us.    We know where the story will lead.   The inevitable outcome (which is the correct one) is never in doubt.     The Aftermath looks great, but its love story is as cold as the German winter in which it is based.   

The Aftermath begins in late 1945, months after the Allied victory and takeover of Germany.   Hamburg is one of many German cities in utter ruins from Allied bombings.    "We dropped more bombs on Hamburg in one weekend than the Germans did to England in the entire war," says one of the British command.    Buildings are now rubble, with survivors combing through the rocks to locate the missing.    Food is scarce, and doled out in small rations to impatient people waiting in endless lines.    Many are sent to camps, which was supposed to the fate of Stefan (Skarsgard), a German engineer who lives in a miraculously still-standing estate outside Hamburg.   

The estate has been requisitioned as the living quarters for Capt. Lewis Morgan (Clarke) and his wife Rachael (Knightley), who lost their son to the German bombings and absolutely despises Germans.   Or at least until she catches a few glimpses of Stefan.   Lewis treats the Germans with a degree of civility and dignity, possibly to atone for the many he was forced to kill in combat.    This fair treatment stretches to Stefan and his testy teenage daughter, both of whom he allows to live in the attic instead of kicking them out.   Clarke's performance is the best in the movie.    As a career military man, he is constantly either working or abruptly leaving home to go to work, forcing Rachael to fend for herself at dinner parties.  (Oh, the horror!)  His absence allows Rachael's budding romance with Stefan to flourish right under his nose.    But Clarke makes us easy for us to sympathize with his inner conflict and pain, and understand why he seems to shut out Rachael.

Rachael is tormented by her loss of her son, while Stefan broods over the loss of his wife in the Allied firestorm.    Their mutual pain and distrust of each other leads to inexorable infatuation and an eventual affair.    The love story doesn't move us much, and it doesn't help matters that Stefan is rather dull.    Sure, he has the looks and the intense stare, but he's no match for Lewis in terms of which guy is inherently more interesting.    But since Stefan is around more often and doesn't seem to have much to do, Rachael gets it on with him.   

Clarke has a particularly moving scene in which he finds a piece of his son's clothing and mourns him for maybe the first time.    He never allowed himself the time to mourn, since the war was going on and he felt the need to return to duty more quickly than expected.   Or was he running away from the pain?    At least with Lewis, we dig a little deeper into what makes him tick.    Stefan is never allowed such a luxury, and Skarsgard is unfairly not given a chance to explore Stefan's own grief.    He is there for one purpose: to fall for Rachael and ultimately be thrown over in favor of Lewis.   No this isn't a spoiler.    If such a development surprises you, then you haven't seen many movies before.