Das Fräulein

Three women of three different generations, all of Balkan heritage, live their lives lost and homesick in Switezerland. Ruza is a Serb, Mila Croatian and Ana probably urban Bosnian Muslem. But this gentle, thoughtful movie doesn't go there. This is not about ethnic hatred and intolerance, and the bloody war in former Yugoslavia, at least not in any direct way. These three women and their plight bring closer the curse of immigration. The desire for better or safer life, deeply intertwined with loss of roots, belonging and even sense of self. Three women touch each other's lives, and continue their arduous journey called life. Director Andrea Staka doesn't use cheep, tawdry means. She just tells a story as it is. Mirjana Karanovic, Ljubica Jovic and Marija Skaricic, three marvelous actors perfectly cast in this gem of a movie.

Fraulein (2006)

A remarkable, small, deeply felt, just slightly offbeat film about what must have been a common and terribly real and depressing reality. Several women from the former Yugoslavia are living in German speaking Switzerland, and the old ties, old animosities, and new ties and friendships, are poignant and delicately worked out.

Sometimes low budget films revel in their lack of polish, as if announcing they are rebellious. "Fraulein" is really not at all an underground film, but rather just a serious one working within some limitations of money and time. And they make the most of it on every level. Above all, the main actresses--the older woman running the little restaurant and the young woman with some undisclosed inner trauma--are searingly right on. The one is repressed and responsible and a bit lifeless, living to survive, and proud to be surviving. The other is a little wild and unpredictable, full of life but with a recklessness that seems unwarranted. At first.

Both women are sad and lonely, and that leads to their needing each other, though both are so stubbornly independent they have trouble coming together as friends. When they do, in small ways, the screen lights up and you keep thinking, yes, yes, at last. You understand how hard it is to find true companionship, and even when you do, it doesn't work out quite right. Still, they both offer cracks in each other's worlds, and we get sucked in for the joy of it, and the eventual disappointment.

A surprising film, very moving, and yet quietly so. Give it a chance to get under your skin. At first, watching just the older woman, you think this is some East Berlin throwback and it's just sad and slow. But it's all for a good end, and things complicate. And the two women, once you get to know them, will win you over.

I saw this film in Thessaloniki,Greece film festival in November 2006 and I was simply amused by all the matters that occurred in it! But I wouldn't like to talk about the plot...

Right the previous day I had seen Grbavica, a film by Jasmila Zbanic- a young director from Bosnia Herzegovina , starring Mirjana Karanovic, the most known actress around the Balkan countries (except maybe for Greece). Grbavica was plain, interesting but totally in control and simply a nice film with a spicy subject matter. Most enjoyable of all,Mirjana Karanovic! I was happy enough to see all her charm, if u can call it that way, in a fresh film by an upcoming director but when I saw Das Fräulein, then I finally realized the depths of her acting...

Sorry for making such an intro but this film is about her and if you get to realize what she is standing for , everything makes a lot more sense. Of course she is not the main dish and that's also an exciting thing!

Director Andrea Staka made a film to talk about what these people carry with them, what they are made of. We don't really know... We don't... It's not about characters in a film, not about a plot, it's about the actors,the director,the people of Bosnia,Yugoslavia,Serbia.. Political backgrounds, immigration, war,personal past all mixed up with youth, health and life perspective...

... all packed up in a simple, honest way... That's what it is about!

Fraulein starts off strongly, as the viewer tries to figure out who the women are and what is going on. The problem is that after we figure it out, we're left grasping at empty air for something more. Are there any more great insights to be had about immigrant psyche or intergenerational female dynamics? Not really. The insights we do achieve are minor and predictable. Only one of the characters undergoes any significant change during the movie, and this change is also predictable.

The details of the movie are done well, the colours, the sounds, the camera angles. With strong details but weak theme, this movie ends up feeling myopic, a feeling only underscored by the many close-up shots and the rarity of wide-angle, panoramic shots. There's a distinct lack of context - this story about immigrants, young and old, could take place anywhere. I didn't even know this was a Swiss film until I started reading other reviews.

Some movies feel intimate when they concentrate on the immediate details, as this movie does. However, the emotional remoteness of all the characters prevents any intimacy from developing, and instead all that's left is myopia.

This German/Swiss co-production (filmed in Switzerland)is about three generations of women from Bosnia-Herzgovina. A young woman,living from day to day,a middle aged owner/manager of a restaurant & an older worker. It manages to nicely weave a trilogy of stories on how these women got to where they are (and why). I couldn't help notice that the movie seemed to be shot live on high definition video,rather than standard 35mm film stock,which gives it a certain look (mind you,I'm not beefing). Das Fraulein (or as it's being distributed in the U.S. as merely Fraulein) is a lovingly written/directed & acted film (video?) about 3 women trying to make do with their lives,and the hard knocks they've all been dealt with.