August 8, 3:00PMFinsbury Park Picturehouse
dir. Koxi
Germany, 2026, 98 mins
August 8, 3:00PM
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The lovers are trade fair hostess Brigitte (Johanna Wokalek) and young Paula (Hannah Schiller). Faced with the shrinking market value of her femininity, Brigitte makes wealthy Heinz (Ben Mün-chow) her lover. She just manages to make her way to the top, while Paula has yet to learn the hardships of life.
Equal parts Michael Haneke and Radu Jude, Koxi’s directorial debut - an adaptation of the 1975 Elfriede Jelinek novel of the same name - reframes the author's examination of feminine ambition, and its subsequent reduction to marriage and children, within a contemporary landscape. Drawing heavily on the textual language of the internet - livestreams, doomscrolling, and the increasingly performative nature of work - the film examines the ways gender and labour become entangled through figures such as cam girls and trade fair hostesses, tracing the circular relationship between its two protagonists, Brigitte and Paula.
Koxi announces herself as a fierce new talent amongst the rising voices of Europe's digital culture-obsessed cinema, crafting a work that is as formally assured as it is incisive in its dissection of labour, desire and self-performance.
- Jack Hewitt
starring —
