Doing a feature film for the first time can be tricky for many reasons.
One personal goal is having that commitment to your ideas and seeing it through to fulfill your vision.
That is what I felt director Carman Jaquier managed to do. After being part of a collaboration, Jaquier has gone solo with quite a visionary piece of work.
On paper, the story does lack originality as it's something we've all seen before. But it's the atmosphere that Jaquier creates that gives it some freshness.
The dreamlike state, out of body experiences and feeling like you have discovered something new to life that you didn't know was out there.
The leading performance of Lilith Grasmug worked well with Jaquier's style. Her striking presence is constant in this and she has a power of telling so much without seemingly doing anything.
Another performance worth mentioning is their choice of location in the form of the Alps. The way it was shot gave it so much life that it managed to feel like Grasmug's main support. That vast beauty and openness clashing with the themes of of being in a mental enclosure worked really well.
So while to some it may look like a simple coming-of-age story. The time period and tone gives you more than just that.
Jaquier's choice of staying with certain shots showed a lot of confidence in the thrmes driving this story.
That fear of being a free-thinking individual in a God-fearing society and the openness of the Alps landscape whilst still feeling trapped and enclosed. All of that along with the dreamlike atmosphere that makes it look like a Terrence Malick feature gives us a pretty solid drama with an immersive atmosphere that gives it a lot of life.
