East Germany. Summer, late 70's. Three years after her boyfriend Wassilij's apparent death, Nelly Senff decides to escape from behind the Berlin wall with her son Alexej, leaving her traumatic memories and past behind. Pretending to marry a West German, she crosses the border to start a new life in the West. But soon her past starts to haunt her as the Allied Secret Service begin to question Wassilij's mysterious disappearance. Is he still alive? Was he a spy? Plagued by her past and fraught with paranoia, Nelly is forced to choose between discovering the truth about her former lover and her hopes for a better tomorrow.
Acting
Jördis Triebel's face does everything dialogue cannot.
Direction
Schwochow turns bureaucratic spaces into psychological horror.
Cinematography
Muted palette that makes the West look equally gray.
Director
Christian Schwochow
Jördis Triebel
Nelly
Tristan Göbel
Alexej
Alexander Scheer
Hans Pischke
Jacky Ido
John Bird
Anja Antonowicz
Krystina
Stefan Lampadius
Jürgen Lüttich
Andreas Nickl
Gerd Becker
Michael Witte
Joachim Fierlinger
Tania Carlin
Britische Geheimdienstlerin
Ryszard Ronczewski
Krystynas Vater Jakob
Hendrik Arnst
Pförtner Neumann
Michael Benthin
Arthur Wilhelm
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Christian Schwochow's mother actually escaped East Germany; he grew up in West Berlin hearing fragments of this specific trauma.
The film deliberately avoids thriller catharsis—most escape narratives celebrate arrival, but West argues liberation itself becomes another interrogation room.
DE
