Reviewed by Stuart O'Connor
Stars Monica Bleibtreu, Hannah Herzsprung, Sven Pippig,
Richy Müller, Jasmin Tabatabai, Stefan Kurt,
Vadim Glowna, Nadja Uhl
Written by Chris Kraus
Certification UK 15 | Germany 12
Runtime 112 minutes
Directed by Chris Kraus
A lovely little film, this one — tightly written, beautifully acted and well structured. And although it deals with some at times unpleasant themes — violence, prison, Germany under the Nazis — it's thoroughly engrossing and a pleasure to watch.
Jenny (Herzsprung) is a real nasty piece of work. She's a violent offender, a convicted killer doing hard time, but her attitude — she's far too quick to resort to her fists — doesn't make her life any easier. At one point she loses her cool and puts one of the guards in hospital. Enter Traude (Bleibtreu), the elderly piano teacher at the prison. She realises Jenny has a gift for music, takes her under her wing and prepares her for a music tournament. What starts as a tense relationship full of suspicion (on both sides) slowly develops as the two begin to trust each other and work towards a common goal, until Jenny learns a secret about Traude's past. And to say more would be to give too much away.
Director Chris Kraus has crafted a real gem here, full of layers and complex characters that you can genuinely understand and empathise with. Jenny starts out as the "bad girl". She's violent, she's a killer, we really shouldn't like her. But as the film unfolds and we get below her skin, we come to understand who she is and why she is so angry at the world and constantly feels the need to lash out. Conversely, Traude — the nice, grandmotherly piano teacher (although she can be pretty severe when she likes) — is not the angel we're led to believe she is.
This is not your typical prison film, nor your usual music drama; it's a beautifully crafted examination of dysfunctional people, full of real emotion. The performances from the two leads are nothing short of breathtaking — newcomer Herzsprung especially, who reminds me of Ellen Page's brilliant turn in Hard Candy. It's a clever, daring, poignant film, and one that marks Kraus as a talent to keep an eye on, because he's certainly going places.