Rating: NR
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 04/18/2008(USA
Release Date: 10/07/2008
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: Ger
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 112 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Wolfe Video
An embittered, 80-year-old piano teacher working in a women's prison takes on the most challenging student in her enduring career in director
Chris Kraus' low-key
musical drama. For years,
Miss Krueger (
Monica Bleibtreu) has been teaching classical piano to some of the most hardened female prisoners in all of Germany, but upon meeting brooding new inmate
Jenny (
Hannah Herzsprung),
Miss Krueger finally seems to have found the one student she can't break through to -- until she hears
Jenny play, that is. A former piano prodigy whose abusive childhood prompted her to neglect her natural gift for music in the name of survival,
Jenny is a violent offender whose notorious temper has, as an adult, repeatedly landed her behind bars. Though she does still display considerable talent on the ivory, her decidedly antisocial behavior compelled the troubled prisoner to repeatedly sabotage opportunities to take part in recitals that would, at the very least, provide a momentary respite from her grim day-to-day existence.
~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide