After her release from prison Alex, who has lost her faith in love, tries to reclaim her psychic balance through a retreat into loneliness. A man and a child interrupt her plan and force her to reengage. Alex dares to emerge from her shell and learns again how thin the ice is and how fragile happiness is, small though it may be.
Acting
Köhler's guarded vulnerability is absolutely shattering.
Direction
Enders lets silence do the heavy lifting.
Cinematography
Bleak Eastern German landscapes mirror Alex's internal exile.
Director
Sylke Enders
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Sylke Enders based Alex's prison experience on extensive research with formerly incarcerated women in East Germany.
The film captures a specific post-reunification German malaise—small towns left behind, people rebuilding lives in crumbling infrastructure.
DE
