Summer in the GDR, 1980. Barbara, a young doctor, is exiled to a provincial hospital, seemingly punished for attempting to leave East Germany. Confined to a claustrophobic small town and under a constant veil of suspicion, she befriends no one, waiting patiently for the opportunity to resume her mission. When her new boss appears to confide in Barbara, she is thrown. Hers is a life in which the fear of surveillance is embedded in all personal relationships, and she doesn't know who to trust. Why has he covered for her and one of her patients? Torn between her instinct... and her duty, the characteristically hyper-controlled Barbara begins to lose her grip on herself, her obligations and her heart. [show more]
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German drama set in pre-Berlin Wall East Germany in 1980. Nina Hoss stars as Barbara, a young doctor starting a new job at a small hospital in the provinces. It transpires she has been transferred there by the government as punishment for applying for an exit visa from the GDR. Her aim is to escape to the West to join her boyfriend Jörg (Mark Waschke), who has been planning her escape via the Baltic Sea. Barbara, detached and self-contained, keeps her head down and gets on with her work, despite being subjected to random home checks and intrusive body searches. However, as the weeks go by, she becomes both beguiled and confused by the attentions of her new boss, Andre (Ronald Zehrfeld). Can she trust him, or has he been assigned to keep tabs on her?
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Berlin Film Festival and German Oscars regular Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), returns with a fresh offering of crisp German filmmaking. It is the summer of 1980 in the German Democratic Republic and, alone, Barbara is confined to living and working as a doctor in a small provincial town - her punishment for attempting to emigrate to the West. She has only one focus; to escape and for this, she has to wait patiently. Until Andre, her supervisor in the hospital, takes her off course. Are his motives of love or duty to the authorities? The day-to-day pretence, and content supervision slowly take their toll as the tension builds.
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