Crossing Europe: „Baden Baden“ (Filmreview)

Her job as driver of a Belgian Film Production sucks, her life too. The fictious story about a woman, who is looking for solide steadyness in her life. „Baden Baden“, the third part of the triology film of French Filmmaker RACHEL LANG.

ANA is a 26 year old unisexed woman, who really do not be as „proper“ as other ones in her age. You can say, her life is the opposite of the „mainstream society-“ expected woman. Failing from her relationship to her ex-boyfriend Boris, and studies in London, she also quitts her job. Beginning a new phase of life, she drives back home to Straßbourg, France, with her borrowed rental car.  Instead of getting focussed on new projects and building up a solide life base, everything seems falling apart.
Her family does not really care about her, but she does, especially about her grandmere (grandmother). Caused of an accident, her grandmere has to go to hospital for surgery, which makes her relationship to her more intense. To help her getting healthy soon, she tries to rebuild the bathing room. Without any knowledgement about tools and less money, she hires a layman of the building supply store, nevermind if he´s from Forbach, border to Germany. Together they work once in a while on that „new project“, which really gives Ana some perspective in life.
But that´s not enough, Ana wants more.

Working on that new „material“ project of steadyness, she wants „inmaterial“ steadyness too. Low-paid job as babysitter for her best friend or having an intense affaire with an acquaintance promise her the feelings of trust, hope and love. Deep in her heart, she still wants to catch up with her ex-boyfriend Boris, who is a well-known, suceeded artist in the USA. Visiting his exhibitions in her mind, makes her soul still suffer a lot, but also fullfills her desire of sucess in life. Unsteady seesaws of feelings causes a complicated lifestyle for Ana.
The bath tube progresses better and better and soon she will crop the harvest of sucess too. The realtionship to her Mum is also getting more stable, and she decides to redue her realationship to Boris for sure, even if she has to go to the USA.

But the next challange is waiting for her- expecting a baby. Unable to cope with, she decides to do an abortion, instead of recreating a „new life“ and having something steady. Moreover her beloved grandmere dies and she gives herself the fault of it. Finishing the „Bath tube project“  gives her material sucess only, but no steadyness at all. That´s the reason why she wants to be a „runaway“ and ends up infront of a building outside in the countryside-in the middle of nowhere. Focussing on that moment, she experiences the monument as „metapher for steadyness“ and calms herself down.The end is open, but also leaves assumptions how it would end.

I really liked the movie a lot, because it showed not only the „happy life“ of young European people. This fact made it also very based on reality, nevertheless it was fiction. Failure vs. Sucess in life are values of every ages, but also very important values to young people´s lives too. What is stable in your own life, and in European life itself? Are you still joining every freedom of values you were used to? Are you still able to go out without any sorrows of getting killed by a bomb or terror action?

Is your opinion still important to any democracy or European politians? Does every person (still) have the rights to live her/his own life, nevertheless of its gender, religion or ethnic backgrounds? Is everybody allowed to fail in life? These questions really stroked my head afterwards and really caused some dicussion with friends too.

Failure with a portion of humor made it also good for having a slightly, not too „over-concerning“, perspective of failing in life and in society. But the issue of  political and personal „failure“ is still important and need to redue too, for aiming a free, connected European society again, which offers young people global options of connceting, working and living together peacefully.