Overview

• The screen adaptation of the 2023 bestseller opened nationwide in Germany, directed by Mia Maariel Meyer from a script by Elena Hell.
• Reviews emphasize close adherence to the book and commend Laura Tonke and Luna Wedler for nuanced, affecting work.
• Critics also say the film inherits weaknesses from the novel, pointing to a conventional treatment of the love interest.
• The author’s third book, Die Assistentin, was released this week, and some readers have posted strongly negative Amazon reviews.
• Industry coverage reports a large Rowohlt advance and a 150,000-copy first printing with a second run ordered, as sales of 22 Bahnen are widely put at about one million.