Gripping, intelligent psychodrama
Valerie Pachner delivers a standout performance as Lola, a workaholic torn between the corporate world and family in writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s pertinent psychological thriller-meets-drama which screened in competition at the recent Berlinale.
Lola is a jet setting business consultant who excels at the aggressive tactics and relentless work her job requires. She travels back and forth from Vienna, where brief visits to her tasteful apartment serve only to collect mail and do laundry as she tirelessly restructures a large corporation. When her sister is admitted to a psychiatric ward and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Lola starts to lose her stringent efficiency and cracks begin to form in her meticulously constructed life. Lola finds some respite through a secret affair with her boss, who promises her big things if the project goes well. But soon enough this burden also gets too much, and Lola’s grip on reality begins to slip.
Please note the film screens in German with English subtitles.
