Der Boden unter den Füßen

A precise film about meaning of life. About work and the steps of profesional succes. About family and the option about priorities. About rivalries, life, falls and fragil balance. And, sure, about abyss, long chain of insecurity and fears anddesire of control, and ignored other. A well crafte story, beautiful performances and direct message.

Excellent Austrian drama film on schizophrenie, depression, burnout, family issues, capitalism, sexism. A workaholic and anxious top-level white collar specialized in reorganizing companies and selecting people to fire deals with her stressful work goals and routine while needs to split her attention in order also to guard her older sister who had a suicide attempt and suffers from serious psychiatric disease. Besides well acted and well directed, the movie impresses for its quite good script, which I will no detail in order not to give spoilers. It shows very carefully the way the main character sees everything that deviates her from her career as a burden, including her sister and her own health.

The German film Der Boden unter den Füssen was shown in the U.S. with the translated title The Ground Beneath My Feet (2019). The movie was written and directed by Marie Kreutzer.

Valerie Pachner plays Lola Wegenstein, a successful businesswoman. Her boss is Elise, portrayed by Mavie Hörbiger. Elise is also Lola's lover.

Pia Hierzegger plays Conny Wegenstein, Lola's sister, who has schizophrenia. Matters reach a crisis when Lola is at the final stages of an important business deal, and Conny makes what may have been a suicide attempt.

The world of high finance is unknown to me. Others will have to tell you how well it's portrayed in the movie. It looks horrible. For example, in her sleep, Lola is talking about "48's." We learn that this means going two days without sleep to work on business.

Although this film contains lesbian lovers, it's really not a lesbian film. In my opinion, it's about a high-level business executive and her sister who suffers from mental illness. The fact that Lola is in a lesbian relationship is important, but not central, to the plot.

All three lead actors are excellent, but I'll single out Pia Hierzegger, as Lola's sister, for special praise. It's a difficult, demanding role, and Hierzegger manages it to perfection.

We saw this film at The Little Theatre, as part of Rochester's wonderful ImageOut Festival. If you can't find it at a festival, it will work on the small screen.

This movie has a terrible IMDb rating of 6.3. I think that it's much better than that, and I feel comfortable recommending it.

The film was trying to criticize the stressful worklife in Germany, same theme as Toni Erdman" movie. I have it 7, because the film is still watchable.

A sister's mental health causes an overworked workaholic consultant her own psychological issues as she juggles both in a tale that teaches the lesson there are more important things in life to get distressed about.