A Fine Couple

A son reflects on his late parents’ marriage, which fell apart after the family fled from East to West Germany, in the uneven latest from Loschütz (Dark Company). Georg and Herta Karst had been living separately for more than 40 years (though they’d never divorced) when they died within a month of each other. Sorting through their belongings, their son, Philipp, recalls how his parents met shortly before WWII, and how his mother wanted to move to West Germany after the war while it was still possible. Upon returning home from an exploratory visit to Bonn in 1957, Georg receives a letter from the West’s Defense Ministry. He is certain the Stasi will have noticed it at the border, and his ensuing fear forces the family to emigrate. Before leaving the GDR, Herta invests in a camera, and after unsuccessfully trying to recoup its value in the West, Georg makes a fateful decision that leads to his arrest for theft and the revelation that Herta is having an affair. The narrative’s second half grows random and tangential, with a surfeit of secondary characters, such as a child boxer and Philipp’s friend Mila, though Philipp’s formative years under GDR dread are well evoked. This has its moments, but it’s a bit inert. (Dec.)