What It’s About
On a road trip, thirty-something Laura (Beer) gets into a car accident on a country road that kills boyfriend Jakob (Froissant). Betty (Auer), an older lady whose house is nearby, is first on the scene. She takes Laura in, and lets her stay on. Later Laura meets Betty’s estranged husband Richard (Brandt) and grown son Max (Ebbers). At first suspicious, they relax when they see the positive impact Laura has on Betty, who’s clearly experienced some trauma of her own. But is this unusual arrangement too good to last?
Why We Love It
Petzold’s slow-burn puzzler takes its time filling in the blanks on two obvious questions: Why does Laura choose to remain in a stranger’s house, and why does Betty encourage it? The answers are right out of a Hitchcock movie, but once disclosed, make perfect sense. Beer is solid as the enigmatic Laura, but among a stellar cast, Auer stands out as a troubled woman trying to claw herself back from the brink of despair. Smart, subtle and transfixing, this is one “mirror” worth looking into.