Peaceful Times

Set in the end 1960s, Vollmer’s film tells the story of Irene Striesow, devoted housewife and mother of three, who together with her husband and children has recently left East Germany in search of a better life in the West. However, Irene is homesick and has a hard time adjusting to their new life. She reminisces about the good old days – and stumbles from one depressive episode to the next, always reminding her children that she will die young. Her husband Dieter is at a loss with her, and starts to spend more and more time away from home. So the burden of preventing their mother from committing suicide and keeping the family together falls onto the shoulder of the two older girls, Wasa and Ute. Vollmer elicits strong and convincing performances from the two young actresses, Nina Monka (Ute) and Leonie Brill (Wasa) – to a point where we wonder who is actually the mother to her children? –Tanja Meding