Happy and in love, Thomas and Hanna, both in their late 30s, have just bought an old house in the country and plan to spend the summer restoring it. For Hanna, the most important thing is to be together with Thomas. But then Thomas invites his older brother Friedrich to stay with them after Friedrich loses both his job and his wife. Wary of letting an outsider encroach upon her summer solitude, Hanna watches as Friedrich’s melancholy presence transforms the already talkative and good-natured Thomas into a whirlwind of unfocused energy and wild abandon. Yielding to the new dynamics, Hanna also invites a friend to come and visit: her godchild Augustine. Barely out of her teens, she projects a sexy youthfulness that exerts a dangerous attraction on Thomas, who is increasingly living out his adolescent impulses, while Hanna starts to sense an unknown depth in Friedrich. The couple’s love and trust are put to a test, but it is up to them to find a new beginning…
This shifting, shimmering tapestry of loyalty and respect, of love and betrayal stamps young director Sebastian Schipper as a profound connoisseur of the human heart. With his outstanding cast and the atmospheric score by poetic singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt, Schipper conjures up a summery escapade in a timely adaptation of one of Goethe’s most important works, Elective Affinities. —german-films.de
