Schloendorff's intelligence and talent are apparent but Coup de Grace is rather tedious and does not approach the level of Torless, Katharina Blum, or The Tin Drum.

Nicely done black & white cinematography, and the actors were all pretty good. But oh my lord, this movie was dull. I think there were maybe 4 minutes total where I wasn't bored to tears. I didn't care about the emotional content (which felt rather inauthentic to me). I didn't care about the historical context. I didn't care about the political subtext. I didn't care about any of it, and in a way I kind of hate myself for sitting through the whole thing.