When Momo leaves his small home town to go to university, he is full of enthusiasm and confidence, but slowly the pressures of study and campus living begin to grind him down. Half way through his course he finds himself at a crossroads with both his relationship and studies.
Acting
Max Riemelt's slow unravelling is physically painful to watch.
Writing
The commune satire cuts deeper than expected.
Production
Painfully authentic 2000s German university aesthetic.
Director
Frieder Wittich
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Director Frieder Wittich based Momo's academic spiral on his own engineering studies at TU Munich before switching to film.
The '13 Semester' title refers to Germany's notorious long university durations—students averaging 13+ semesters was a national crisis in the 2000s.
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