Product Details

• Actors: Mirjana Karanovic, Andrea Zogg, Zdenko Jelcic, Marija Skaricic, Pablo Aguilar
• Directors: Andrea Staka
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: German, Croatian, Serbian
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: November 4, 2008
• Run Time: 81 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000Y36PYS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #97,260 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Fraulein" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Most people, upon reading that this is a Swiss film about women rebuilding their lives in Zurich after fleeing the former Yugoslavia, will feel their eyes involuntarily rolling up into their heads.But despite the occasional sluggish passage, Fraulein is an intriguing picture about people struggling in ways that are so personal that they become universal.Ana (Marija Skaricic) is young and pretty, and has fled the Balkans without a plan she lives out of a bus station locker until she gets a job at a cafe. Her boss, Ruza (Mirjana Karanovic), is older and has had more time to adjust to her new life, adopting a hard-as-nails Germanic attitude. Another cafe employee, Mila (Ljubica Jovic), dreams of returning to Croatia where her husband is building a house. It s primarily a character study, and an excellent one. Director Andrea Staka plays the actors like a fine instrument, eliciting anxiety, pain, passion and joy that feel genuine. --Portland Tribune

Product Description

Reza left Belgrade more than 25 years ago to seek a new life in Zurich. Now in her fifties, she has completely detached herself from the past. She owns a cafeteria and maintains an orderly, joyless existence. Mila, a waitress there, is a good-humored Croatian woman who also emigrated decades ago, but, unlike Reza, she dreams of returning to a house on the Croatian coast. Both of them receive a jolt when Ana, a young, itinerant woman who has fled Sarajevo, breezes into the cafeteria looking for work. Reza hires her but is annoyed by Ana's impulsive and spirited efforts to inject life into the cafeteria. Gradually the acrimony will dissipate, as Ana, who hides a tragic secret under her passionate spirit, begins to thaw Reza's chill, and their relationship will change both women in ways they never anticipated.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Simple Phenomenal Film, December 10, 2008

By 

Daniel G. Lebryk (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fraulein (DVD)

This is far and above the absolute best Film Movements film in the series. I haven't seen or heard a film this well done in a very long time. Buy or rent this film.

The opening scene sets the tone of this film. We see a man pruning trees. The only sound we hear is the sound of his saw cutting the thin young branches. The last sound we hear is the click of a branch breaking off, but don't see that branch break. The scene is very gray, overcast sky, and in the winter. It is a metaphor for the rest of the film.

So many films start with a particular style, something different. It catches your eye or your ears or your mind. About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through they lose that style and return to the same old melodrama we've all seen before. Not this film. That sound, the sparse clear perfectly recorded sound works throughout this film. The gray skies, the fabulous framing, the perfect editing, those play all the way to the end of Fraulein. There was a unique style all the way to the end of the film.

This is the story of two women. Ana has left Sarejvo after the war. Ruza is the owner of a very gray working man's restaurant (cafeteria would be more like it). The two meet in Ruza's, aptly named simply "Restaurant."

This is a part of Zurich no tourist has ever seen. It overlooks the city we all know along the lake. This is the working area of Zurich. If I were to describe more of this film, it would ruin the discovery process essential to the story line and enjoyment.

I don't want to oversell this film. It's a remarkable small film that was done on a very low budget. It demonstrates that fantastic stories and an amazing film style do not require millions of dollars to film. I was astounded by the clarity of sound, and how it was almost another character. I was surprised by the wonderful perfomances of these two women. I felt like I got to know them both well. And was amazed at the camera work and framing.

If you're familiar with the Film Movement series, you will love this film. If not, then this might just be the introduction you need to start watching very fine new cinema from around the world.

By the way - Happiness, the short that accompanies Fraulein, is the best one they have ever bundled. It's about an older woman that is a quality control inspector at a condom factory.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Tale of two very different women, November 1, 2007

By 

Reader "cvrcak1" (Boca Raton, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fraulein ( Das Fräulein ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Switzerland ] (DVD)

If you truly want to experience films that accurately depict other cultures, then you should start getting some Film Movements movies. These are independent movies that describe dysfunctions from around the world with very fine sensibilities. This film shows us two women whose lives cross paths. One is Serbian woman, Ruza (Rose) who immigrated to Western Europe 25 years ago while the other is 22 year old Bosnian girl Ana who has recently left war torn Sarajevo. Ana is damaged by years of war, her brother's suicide and her own restlessness. We never really learn her true motives for leaving Sarajevo. Ruza on the other hand has been living a quiet life, somewhat boring and predictable. She has lover who she hides from the general public because she knows deeply that he is not a right person for her. But she is so busy working in her restaurant that the life outside of that world really no longer exist for her. Ana on the other hand is homeless. She finds a place to sleep and take shower after her nightly escapades to a disco club. There, she is picked up by men she never met before and she follows them to their apartments where she has sex with them, but also clens up, eats a little and finds enough strength for another day. Although very dfferent in their age and temperament, these two women deeply influence each other's life. I have enjoyed seevral moments in the film. One is where elderly (Croatian) coupel is watching a TV show and husband makes a very dumb guess on the quiz question if for no other reason than for the reason that saying nothing seems stupid to him. The other gives you a sense for proportion. Same woman's husband steals her cash stash from her cash hiding place. She has been saving that money for a new coat for herself. He, on the other hand wants to use that money to pay for a new roof for the dream retirement home they are building in Croatia. That incident as humiliating to a wife who works hard in the restaurant kitchen while her husband sits home all day watching TV pretending to be disabled (his foot is hurt), gives us some insight on how different standard of living is in West vs. East Europe. Same amount of money can buy one coat in one place and build a roof in the other. Multi layered story, definitely not not be missed.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still thinking about this superb film, February 24, 2009

By 

J. Offenbach (N VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fraulein (DVD)

Mirjana Karanovic gives a stellar performance in "Das Fraulein." Actually every actor is superb and although this story leaves much to the imagination, as a lover of simplicity, I adore this character driven film. Every frame is intentional, each action is necessary, there is not a thing wasted in this low budget production which surpasses many films that cost ten times its budget. The audio effects were expertly done, including even the background movement of cars in a parking lot. From a production standpoint, this was a ten. In less than an hour and a half, we learned how humans share their lives with only a few words spoken relying on their gestures and actions to propel the story. Where Woody Allen's characters erupt in verbose thoughts, these characters internalize, reminiscent of New Wave films. As an example, rather than carry on about a woman watching her life go down the drain, we see her watch the sudsy water flow from the sink. What could be a morose story becomes uplifting and I'm going to watch this again.