Die Linie

A film by Ursula Meier. In French with German subtitles

[Credits] [Tickets & Termine] [Trailer]

Margaret, 35, has a histo­ry of vio­lent beha­viour which has cost her a roman­tic rela­ti­onship. She has moved back in with her mother Christina, a fra­gi­le, imma­tu­re 55-year-old woman who bla­mes Margaret, her first­born, for rui­ning her dreams of a care­er as a con­cert pia­nist. In a sta­te of unbrid­led fury during an argu­ment, Margaret hits Christina. The law steps in, fur­ther com­pli­ca­ting fami­ly dyna­mics. As she awaits tri­al, Margaret is for­bidden from coming into cont­act with her mother or within 100 met­res of their home. This only inten­si­fies her desi­re to be clo­ser to her fami­ly. Every day, Margaret appears at this 100-met­re thres­hold to see her 12-year-old sis­ter Marion and give her music les­sons.
In La ligne, Ursula Meier con­ti­nues her explo­ra­ti­on of aty­pi­cal fami­ly con­stel­la­ti­ons, rede­fi­ning the idea of a fami­ly “cir­cle” to con­sider its topo­gra­phi­cal dimen­si­ons. Her asto­nis­hing lead actor is lite­ral­ly wren­ched from this cir­cle and from her mother in a man­ner remi­nis­cent of the pain of child­birth. One of the film’s remar­kab­le achie­ve­ments is its shif­ting mood which, echo­ing its prot­ago­nists’ emo­tio­nal inse­cu­ri­ties, slips back and forth bet­ween come­dy and dra­ma wit­hout war­ning. The tonal choices and direc­ting are assu­red and as striking as, well, a punch in the face.

Credits:

La Ligne
CH/FR/BE 2022, 104 Min., frz. OmU
Regie: Ursula Meier
Kamera: Agnès Godard
Schnitt: Nelly Quettier
mit Stéphanie Blanchoud, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Elli Spagnolo 

Trailer:
DIE LINIE – offi­zi­el­ler OmU-Kinotrailer – ab 18.05.2023
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