Alex is a sullen rather troubled teenager who has been sent by her adoptive mother to work one summer as an intern on a remote farm in Northern Germany in the hope that this will help her resolve some of her internal struggles. She is taught by thirty-something-year-old Nina how to train horses with the older woman trying to mentor her and show that she needs to exercise some control of her own body to transfer this to the horses. She is a reluctant pupil at first but then awkwardly misreads Nina’s concern and kisses her on the lips causing an embarrassing moment for both women.How much Nina knows of Alex’s problematic past is not clear, but when she finds out that she has been stealing from her in order to buy drugs, she warns the teenager to get her act together or risk being sent home.
One day Kathy a wealthy teenager arrives to stay at the farm with her own horse so that she can learn how to improve her riding skills. It turns out that this is not the only thing she discovers she is passionate about, and one weekend when Nina has gone to the City to visit her girlfriend, Kathy and Alex get drunk and start to get it on. It’s all rather innocent and harmless apart from the fact in their drunken stupor they fall asleep having forgotten to lock the stables and awake to find the horses have all bolted.
Everyone, including the horses, get found in this very gentle lyrical coming-of-age tale which is quite a change from German filmmaker Monika Treut who usually opts for much tougher topics for her movies. The pace is slow and unhurried leaving time to soak up the both the rather wonderful countryside, but also the young girl’s awakening when they both discover what seems to have been the missing element in both their lives so far. The one misstep is the secondary plot strand of Nina and her girlfriend which seemed to go nowhere : a little like their actual relationship.
First class performances from both young leads Ceci Schmitz-Chuh and Alissa Wilms. The horses were pretty good too.
Labels: 2014, coming of age, gay, German, lesbian
