Anna, an out-of-work actress in Berlin, is mugged by a young man. But later that day, she meets him again… as his speech teacher. Their lessons grow into an unlikely friendship, then a pact. Cheered on by each other’s affection, without a penny to their name, they leave town and head for the sea.

The clear diction of its heroine, her neat-as-a-pin apartment, and the pure even tones of the soundtrack counterpoise this film’s asymmetrical May–September liaison. Mismatched but star-aligned, these lovers skip along a Côte d’Azur esplanade as plosives should trip off the tongue.