"Christiane F." is still today, almost 35 years after it was done, among the most famous German movies, especially if you only count the 1980s. It is about a girl that makes the wrong friends and gets sucked deeper and deeper into an abyss of drug addiction, prostitution and homelessness. I think this Berlin-set movie has some good moments, but just as many bad ones too unfortunately. Apart from that, the source material simply was not good enough to make a convincing and entertaining film that easily passes the two-hour mark. It's not really Natja Brunckhorst's fault, she played her part well and most of the other actors were solid too, even if they are not in film anymore today or have even, like most of them, not acted in anything else apart from this movie.

The writer and director here is Uli Edel, still early in his career. He quickly moved to Hollywood afterward, went on to direct "The Mists of Avalon", but also the German Oscar nominee "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex". Very recently, he received his first Emmy nomination for Adrien Brody's "Houdini". But back to his work from the early 1980s here: The most interesting aspect is probably that this film is based on a real person. Christiane F. is still alive today (in her 50s) and was recently in the headlines again because she wrote a book and apparently her health isn't exactly in good shape. But still I wasn't too impressed. I am generally not a great fan of Edel. In my opinion, he very much goes for shocking sequences over great storytelling. He makes good choices in what real live events he puts on the screen, but what he makes out of these premises is rarely really convincing in my opinion. I believe this film could have been better with a more competent director in charge. Not recommended and the negative highlight was the lashing scene near the end. This almost sunk the authenticity from 120 minutes before that. Thumbs down.