Respire

Every story has two sides. At least, as we can witness with this one. While I thought some things were obvious (bad day at work and so forth), it is not trying to be to on the nose. Two women, two different lives, but similar goals. It's about having a family, about surviving, working on making life better.

The acting is more than decent, but there are downfalls with the clichés and everything that is going on. You can understand character motivation most of the time, even if the ending may be too much for some. You'll either like it or you'll kind of hate it. But life can be tough sometimes and it shows here how that plays out

This actually works best if you see it as a parable about the love/hate-relationship between Germany and Greece in a time of economic crisis. About desires, misunderstandings and prejudice. The plot about kidnapping is secondary. The lead actresses give stunning performances as representatives of their countries. Jördis Triebel is well known as one of the reigning talents of her generation. I didn't know Chara Mata Giannatou, who is the real star here. Obviously, she has been successful in greek TV after this. I've recently seen her playing a supporting role as a greek woman (and sporting a fake greek accent) in a decent German language film. Since she's a native German speaker and a major talent, she should also have a career in Germany and, of course, internationally.