Christian Petzold, 2012, 105 min
Summer in the GDR in 1980: Barbara, a doctor, has submitted an application to emigrate to West-Germany which gets rejected. She is punished by being posted away from East Berlin to a hospital in a provincial town. Jörg, her lover in the West, is busy planning her escape via the Baltic Sea. It’s a waiting game for Barbara. Her new flat, the neighbours, summer and the countryside no longer hold any charms for her. She is working in the department for pediatric surgery – attentive to her young patients, deliberately cool to her colleagues.
André, her new boss, confuses her. There is his unshakable faith in her professional abilities, the way he cares, and his winning smile. What makes him cover up for her when she helps Stella, a young runaway? Is he spying on her? Is he in love? Barbara begins to lose her grip on herself, her plans and her heart. The day of her planned escape approaches.
(Source: filmportal.de / 62. Berlin International Film Festival, Catalogue)
Film Screenings: The Cinema of the Berlin School
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