Director: Ilker Catak

Stars: Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Evea Lobau, Can Rodenbostel

This riveting German drama begins as a social realist-style tale before shifting to intense psychological thriller. Benesch is Carla, a liberal and committed Polish maths and PE teacher working at a German high school. A series of thefts has occurred at the school, so Carla’s class are subject to an intrusive internal investigation. She uncomfortably sits in on the interrogation of two class representatives who blame Turkish student Ali (Rodenbostel) and against Carla’s wishes, Ali is hauled in and searched where a large amount of money is found in his pockets. Convinced of his innocence after a meeting with his parents, the teacher stages an audacious trap, which leads to further problems with the head, fellow teachers and a shy student with whom Carla has forged a special bond. Director-co-writer Catak expertly ratchets up the tension as Carla’s travails snowball and order breaks down, while cinematographer Judith Kaufmann’s bright and stark rendering of the school environs, redolent of Haneke at his most clinical, underlines the school’s chilly officiousness. Ultimately the picture gets a little too overheated and the script cluttered, but Benesch is fantastic as the idealistic teacher rapidly losing control of the situation.

David Willoughby

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