James Hitchcock Elisabeth "Lilly" West, a housewife in 1940s Berlin, seemed like the perfect example of Aryan German womanhood. Beautiful, blonde and blue-eyed, she was married to an officer in the German army and, as the mother of four young sons, held the Bronze Cross of the German Mother, an order created by Hitler to honour those women who provided the Fatherland with large numbers of children. Beneath the surface, however, things were not all they seemed. Lilly's husband Guenther was frequently unfaithful to her and she was unhappy in their marriage. She herself sought consolation in affairs with other men, but happiness continued to elude her until she began a lesbian relationship with a friend named Felice Schragenheim. ("Aimée" was Felice's pet name for Lilly and "Jaguar" Lilly's for Felice).Felice, who worked as a journalist on a Nazi newspaper, may also have seemed like the ideal German woman, but again she was not everything she seemed. She was, in fact, Jewish and was concealing her identity under a false name. While posing as a loyal Nazi, she was working for the anti-Nazi German Resistance. Following the failure of the attempted anti-Nazi coup on 20th July 1944, Felice was arrested and taken to Theresienstadt concentration camp, where she died. Rather surprisingly, Lilly was not punished; she was evidently able to persuade the authorities that she was not aware of either Felice's Jewish background or her treasonable activities. The Nazi Party strongly disapproved of lesbianism, but unlike male homosexuality it was never made a specific criminal offence, so Lilly could not be prosecuted solely on the basis of her sexual relationship with Felice.This story was told in a best-selling non-fiction book by the German writer Erica Fischer, later translated into English. I read Fischer's book a few years ago, and found it a very moving one, but somehow Max Färberböck's film version never really comes to life in the same way. I found it cold and uninvolving, an impression not helped by a claustrophobic tone and a dark, sombre visual look. None of the acting performances really stood out. The story of Aimee and Jaguar may have ended tragically, but it was also the story of two people in love, and the film should have been paid as much attention to celebrating that love as to lamenting their tragedy. I felt that Aimee and Jaguar deserved a better film than this. 4/10

yiuclaudia I watched it tonight and I would certainly count it a loss if I missed watching it. It is simply brilliant! The acting, the story, the passion. I just could not stop crying, and this was over and over again. We knew the lovers were doomed but the courage and the love they felt for each other made us wish, no matter how unrealistic, that some miracle would happen, that somehow, they could be saved. Of course, this was not going to be so. Still, Felice was just bewitching, not because of her being so sexy, but because she was so much alive. Wow! I bought the DVD. I am not going to lend it to anyone, just in case they never return it to me. Wow!

smoothhoney1265 There does exist an expression in the German language that describes this movie perfectly. It's "großes Kino". Literally translated it means "big cinema" and you use it for movies that are really grand: Grand in their structure, grand in emotion and grand in class. If any movie deserves this title then it's this one.The Plot: Berlin during WWII. We get an insight in the daily life of two complete different women who don't know each other. Lilly is young, married with four kids and because of this can afford a quite pleasant life (as Hitler was fond of mothers with many kids, they got more of everything than other families: more money, more food etc.). So while her husband is somewhere out there fighting the enemy, Lilly occasionally has affairs and while she has her fun with the men, a nanny is taking care of the kids. The other woman, also being quite young, is Felice. Felice is Jewish, works as a journalist for a newspaper and unlike Lilly has to daily cope with the fear of being discovered and transported to a KZ. As if it all were not enough, Felice is lesbian and enjoys life as much as possible in the circle of her (mostly lesbian) friends. Now, one day, Felice by chance sees Lilly in a theatre and almost instantly falls for her. Surprisingly enough Lilly loves her back and they begin an irresistible and passionate affair, which at the time and circumstances back there was like dancing on a volcano… Of course the film deals with WWII and the holocaust here but the best thing about it is that it's only done on the side. The plot concentrates on the two women, the two different worlds they live in and their feelings towards each other. It's all so intensive and it's not all about two suffering girls who lived in a horrible time and were not allowed to love each other, it's about two strong women with a lust for life who tried not to care too much about the Nazi regime, but to concentrate on seizing the day. After watching it you don't only feel for them, you admire them for having been so strong and courageous. But most of all you get to appreciate love and life again.A truly great film about a great love in times where this love seemed to be impossible. Based on true events.

writers_reign There's a great new Billy Wilder movie out with all the hallmarks of Wilder at his blackest/drollest: Berlin, 1943/44. Lilly's husband is somewhere on the Eastern Front leaving her free to 'entertain' a succession of gentlemen callers in the afternoons and using the cash she makes to buy things for her four children. Somehow, though, that 'ol' upper-case Love keeps eluding her. Maybe she'll find it in the arms of Felice; by day an intrepid reporter, by night an activist in the underground - as in Resistance as opposed to U-bahn. Oh, yes, in a typical Wilder twist Felice is also slightly Jewish. There's only one problem. Billy Wilder has gone to the big sound stage in the sky and Max Faberbock wouldn't make even Clapper-Loader on a Wilder set. I'm aware of the glowing notices on this very board but somehow I can't share them. Where they see fantastic acting I see competent; where they see brilliant period detail I see cardboard cut outs. Maybe I'm hard to please.Yes, come to think of it I AM.