Comme si de rien n'était

Shows how a young woman copes with suffering in the aftermath of a sexual abuse by someone from her office. If the viewer expects to experience a fast paced emotional drama this is not the thing as it is implied in the title, in my opinion what they have in mind is how it feels to subdue everything that is bubbling inside which slowly lead to affect the mind and social relations in daily life. Unexpected cut off ending

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.

No previously written or determined way one will deal with a severe ordeal. The girl was raped and, the minute after, she wishes to dominate it by contention and absorption of the event within herself. I believe that would be a way for her of not getting dominated by the event or by the perpetrator. At a certain point, however, she looses it and drops the cool. And then she is the one who dominates and confronts her raper. At this moment, when she finally lost her cool, she has at the same time won. Why not? Annae's smile and eyes are though out the movie so multidimensional! She smiles but her eyes don't. She looks cool all along but her smile implies something else. As in Mona Lisa. Great time watching this movie, it really adds to anything else I have seen before.

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.

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.