Fourteen-year-old Jasmin longs to be near her biological mother, Eva. Following her mother’s release from prison, an excursion into the country together becomes a first test for the fledgling mother-daughter relationship. They smoke, dance and stroll together – the mood is promising. But time and again, it is revealed that their needs and expectations are light years apart. For the moment, neither Eva nor Jasmin seem up to the task of fulfilling each other’s need for identity and support. (Talea is Italian for scion, a detached shoot or twig containing buds from a woody plant, used in grafting.)
Acting
Stockinger and Proll's silences speak entire childhoods.
Direction
Mückstein lets discomfort breathe without exploitation.
Director
Katharina Mückstein
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title's botanical meaning deepens on rewatch—Jasmin is literally a detached shoot trying to graft onto a root system that may reject her. Mückstein frames their bodies in nature like specimens under glass.
Austrian cinema's 'new wave' of female directors (Mückstein, Hausner, Krebitz) often explores maternal ambivalence with zero sentimentality—Talea premiered at Berlinale's Generation 14plus, where teenagers reportedly argued with parents in the lobby.
AT
