After being neglected as a child, Rita gives birth to six children of her own and challenges her mother in forcing her to act as a parent to her grandchildren.
Rita flees to Belgium with her baby because she is wanted for theft and other offences in Germany. She sets out in search of her natural father whom she has never met. But he has a wife and children. Rita’s sudden appearance causes complications in the family. She is eventually arrested by the Belgian police and deported to Germany where she serves a lengthy prison sentence.
During this time, Rita’s four other children live with Rita’s mother Isabella. She runs a restaurant and has little time for the children. Fanny, the eldest, has to look after her siblings.
After Rita is released from prison, she takes her children back again – against the wishes of her mother Isabella. With the help of Marc – an American soldier stationed in Germany – an almost normal family life develops. But Rita doesn’t trust Marc’s feelings. They don’t fit into the pattern of her previous experiences. Rita resumes her former lifestyle. She sees other men and pilfers with a girlfriend. When Marc announces he is to be posted back in the USA, Rita’s life is thrown off balance.
Maria Speth was born in 1967 and studied at the “Konrad Wolf” Academy of Film and Television in Babelsberg. She has worked since 1991 as an editing and directing assistant on various films and TV programs. Her films as a writer/director include: Mittwoch (short, 1995), Barfuss (short, 1999) winner of the 3sat Award at Oberhausen 1999, her feature debut the days between (In den Tag hinein, 2001) which won the VPRO Tiger Award at Rotterdam, the Grand Prix du Jury at Créteil, and the MFG Star 2001, and madonnas (Madonnen, 2007).
Rita / SANDRA HÜLLER /// Fanny / LUISA SAPPELT /// Marc / COLEMAN ORLANDO SWINTON /// Isabella / SUSANNE LOTHAR /// OLIVIER GOURMET / in the role of “Jerome Vassé”
Directed by MARIA SPETH /// Written by MARIA SPETH /// producer / CHRISTOPH FRIEDEL /// EXECUTIVE producer / CLAUDIA STEFFEN /// CO producers / PASCAL TRÄCHSLIN / JEAN-PIERRE / LUC DARDENNE / OLIVIER BRONCKART /// commissioning editor SF / SUSANN WACH /// commissioning editor ZDF / CLAUDIA TRONNIER /// director of photography / REINHOLD VORSCHNEIDER /// editors / DIETMAR KRAUS / LUDOO TROCH / MARIA SPETH /// CASTING / NINA HAUN /// a production of / PANDORA FILM / PRODUKTION /// in co-production with / CINEWORX FILM / LES FILMS DU FLEUVE / ZDF “DAS KLEINE / FERNSEHSPIEL” / SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN /
SUPPORTED BY HESSEN-INVEST FILM / EURIMAGES / FILMSTIFTUNG NRW / MEDIENBOARD BERLIN-BRANDENBURG / BKM / FILMFÖRDERUNGSANSTALT / CENTRE DU CINEMA ET DEL’AUDIOVISUEL DE LA COMMUNAUTE FRANÇAISE DE BELGIQUE ET DES TELEDISTRIBUTEURS WALLONS / HESSISCHES MINISTERIUM FÜR WISSENSCHAFT UND KUNST / HESSISCHE FILMFÖRDERUNG, MEDIA PROGRAMME of the european community
FORMAT 35 mm / 1:1.85 / Colour / Dolby Digital /
LENGTH 125 mins / ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
German / French / English
