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Now at the Movies: Draussen ist Sommer (Summer Outside)
25.10.2013
In her second feature film "Draussen ist Sommer" ("Summer Outside"), director Friederike Jehn tells a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a home crisis: The family of 14-year-old Wanda – played by Maria-Victoria Dragus, who won the German Film Award for her performance in "Das weiße Band" ("The White Ribbon") – tries to start over in Switzerland. Yet soon, the old conflicts between her parents (Nicolette Krebitz and Wolfram Koch) resurface, and the big house with the wild garden seems like an unfittingly beautiful stage for the sad decline of a relationship. While Wanda stubbornly clings to the illusion of harmony and fights for her family to stay together, she also has her first encounters with the opposite sex – not all of which are pleasant. In evocative images which create an enchanted atmosphere, Jehn tells of the emotional limbo between childhood and coming-of-age. Despite its melancholic undertones, "Draussen ist Sommer" is far from being a depressing film – mainly thanks to its powerful protagonist Wanda, whose defiant attitude and growing self-confidence is breathtakingly conveyed be the stellar Maria-Victoria Dragus.
