By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Andrea Staka
Starring: Ljubica Jovic | Marija Skaricic | Mirjana Karanovic
Country: bosnia-herzegovina, germany, switzerland
Year: 2007
Running time: 81
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476999/
Bruce says: “This lovely, haunting film is first rate independent fare – wonderful characters, an offbeat story, and an ending that is enigmatic. Ruza came to Switzerland from Yugoslavia thirty years ago and has determinedly set about to find a better life. She now owns a small cafeteria style restaurant in a working class section of Zurich which seems far removed from the glamour of the Bahnhofstrasse. Her days are mechanical, everything is measured and timed including her lovemaking. Ruza may have a ‘better’ life in Zurich than she would have had in Belgrade but it is not necessarily a happy one. Another guestworker from Yugoslavia is Mila; she works in the restaurant and is treated more like an underling than a compatriot. Mila and her husband dream of returning home to Serbia to build a house on the coast in spite of the fact that their children live in Switzerland and have no desire to leave.
“Ana, a recent arrival from Sarajevo, stops by the restaurant for a bite to eat. Her timing is fortuitous for Mila has badly cut her finger. In seconds Ana ruches to Mila’s aid and takes over her duties. Ruza is impressed and offers Ana money. Ana refuses. The films begins to focus on Ana as she goes to nightclubs, picks up men, uses a locker at the train station as her hotel room, and goes to a clinic for medical treatment. We soon learn that Ana has leukemia, something that the others will not learn until much later. Ana is simultaneously a free spirit and a lost soul. Several days after her first visit to Ruza’s restaurant, she is hired on a temporary basis until she gets her working papers. She organizes a surprise birthday party for Ruza which is at first not well received.
“Gradually, Ana begins to crack Ruza’s seemingly impenetrable shell. The two women spend much of their free time together and begin to share their feelings. Meanwhile, Mila begins to confront her family problems. It is Ana’s future that is in doubt – if she does not begin treatment quickly she will die.
“Nicely photographed and beautifully acted, FRÄULEIN is void of sentimentality but nonetheless offers a tender glimpse of the human condition. Director Andrea Skala, a resident of Switzerland, is from Yugoslavia and understands the dilemma of the many guestworkers who leave their homeland
to find a better life, eventually finding themselves emotionally or financially bound to their adopted country. 4.5 cats
“FRÄULEIN screened at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival”