Comme si de rien n'était

The decision of Janne to keep quiet about the incident seems to be unusual for a woman. But, it seems, on the face of it that it makes sense if the victim doesn't want to be embroiled in interminable litigation and if she shuns public scrutiny.

Her experience makes me think of the comfort women in Asia in World War II who were abused/raped by Japanese soldiers routinely. They, too, didn't complain because it was futile for them to do so given their circumstances. They didn't have a choice.

But Janne had a choice. She could have pressed charges against Martin. What she did was unnatural and it showed in the debilitating effect on her wellbeing. She tries to convince herself that this is the best way to go but she knows this is farthest from the truth.

Aenne Schwarz delivers a compelling performance as Janne. She understands all the emotions that confront Janne, and she portrays this on a subdued, almost measured, way. She animates her character totally and presents us with a gripping cautionary tale.

This is a disturbing, thought-provoking film. It's something you wouldn't want to miss.

Reviews suggesting that the end is abrupt are misguided. Every single scene in the film, bar one (the assault), are cut off. The form is the character, the character is the narrative.

Very, very disturbing film. Brilliant first (or any feature). Stellar lead performance. There are sounds of traffic and the city over the credits. All is good.

What a strange movie. I was moderately connected to this story that portrays a woman acting as if nothing had happened, on any occasion: during a rape after a drunken evening, during a game between colleagues at a seminar, ... She is bland and lacks conviction. The actress Aenne Schwarz is extremely beautiful and plays sensitively, but the film lacks coherence, following an imperfect realization. Disappointing because of a feeling of incompleteness.

With a very down-to-earth and ever-topical story, you may think that you've seen something similar to All Good before. However, while it touches on a topic portrayed in numerous films beforehand, it comes at it from a more interesting and rather refreshing angle, as such providing a little more emotional power and grit throughout. In that, it's an engrossing film, however it often fails to really keep its main theme at the centre of proceedings, occasionally taking away from that emotional core and making for a somewhat less enthralling watch.

Before I get into that, however, let's talk about what really works about All Good, specifically the central performance from Aenne Schwarz. As I said, you may think you understand the story of a woman suffering in silence after an assualt, but what this film does, and what Schwarz in particular does, is show that the emotional effects and way of dealing with that trauma are not all that simple.

Initially wonderfully smiley and likable, I was immediately taken by Schwarz's character here, and yet as the film goes on, her performance gradually begins to show the increasingly weary and even desperate extent that this woman has fallen to, slowly but effectively transitioning from someone who attempts to brush off something they at first see as harmless, and yet still suffer deeply from the lasting impact of such an event.

The scene in which we see the assault happen is very well-handled - it's not a sensationalist or overly dramatic set-piece, but one that reflects a more real-world circumstance in seeming a little less menacing and harrowing than many films portray, and that's why you're able to relate to our leading lady's desire to see it as a nothing more than a nuisance, rather than becoming immediately grief-stricken.

In that, the film takes a while for the real gravity of the situation to hit home, but in doing so, it expertly portrays a more realistic side to trauma and guilt, and allows the real intensity of what actually happened to play out over a longer and more agonising time period.

It's an interesting and different perspective to what many films portray, and the film's very honest and down-to-earth nature is something that makes it a likable and undoubtedly engrossing watch, refusing to give into theatrics and show something that can more accurately reflect the confusion and eventual suffering that a person may go through after a sexual assault.

Now, while that aspect of the film helps to keep it a generally intriguing watch, I still can't quite say that it managed to keep me completely enthralled from beginning to end, something that's largely due to that rather subdued opening act.

As I said earlier, it's great to see that director Eva Trobisch doesn't sensationalise or overplay the nature of sexual assault, and the following twenty minutes or so see our main character effectively forget all about what happened as she aims to move on with her life.

It's an interesting part of the plot, but for those twenty minutes, before the gravity of the situation really starts to hit home, there really isn't all that much to focus on, as you're left wondering what the fallout of that earlier event was.

Given hindsight, it's something that's a little difficult to criticise heavily, but it proves that without the film's well-detailed and strong central theme, the screenplay falters a little, and it really struggles to keep your attention well.

And finally, the film's ending is a poignant, albeit rather frustrating and abrupt one. Once again, it's a balance between orthodox cinema and the central theme here, and the trade-off doesn't quite work at the very end, as you're left hanging with an abrupt conclusion that doesn't quite satisfy the overall arc of the story. It's an undoubtedly unique way to finish things off, but it's not something that really hit me as hard as I felt was the intention, leaving me a little disappointed that there wasn't more to learn about what this woman is really going through.

Overall, I was generally impressed by All Good, what with its unique and grounded central theme, down-to-earth style, and excellent central performance, although it's not a film that managed to grab me entirely, occasionally trading off some of its emotional power for the sake of that central thematic narrative in rather unsatisfying fashion.

All Is Well has all the hallmarks of a modern art house movie. The abbreviated scenes, the prolonged silences and the confrontational subject matter. It was very interesting to see a rape story played out in this way, with the perpetrator not portrayed as a calculated psychopath living on the outskirts of society but as a functioning and respected citizen who is capable of both intense cruelty and actual remorse.

The lead performance from Aenne Schwarz is exceptional and helps keep the film afloat through it's more hesitant moments. A poignant and challenging piece of cinema.