Langue Étrangère (2024)

2 teenagers with their own problems meet after they have been writing to each other for a while. That seems disappointing at first until the French Fanny tries to impress the German Léna. They learn to deal with each other's problems and offer comfort in those difficult moments. But the question gradually becomes what is true and what is not.

The film is a love story between two teenagers, but also a coming of age with problems in their world and the generation conflict with parents and grandparents. Sometimes that story makes quite a few jumps, but that is not the case with teenagers. Searching for a path in life in which you sometimes have to embrace and sometimes have to fight again. Life is simply not black and white.

Beautifully told in a captivating picture. Both main actors do that well and carry the film. A warm recommendation.

Translated from Dutch · View original

French Fanny [Lilith Grasmug] and German Lena [Josef Heinsius] meet through a pen pal project at school. Fanny first spends some time in former East Germany, then Lena comes to France to stay with Fanny for a while. Lena wants to become a political activist and Fanny is looking for her sister Justine [Anna Hedderich], who has secretly joined a radical action group. The search strengthens the bond between the two young women, but tensions in both families put a strain on their relationship. The script wanders for a long time, but thanks to strong acting by the two main characters and an intriguing denouement, it is still worth it.

Translated from Dutch · View original

A scenario that is too full, which makes the film not entirely successful. What bothered me most is that you somehow feel that something is still coming. And then I was waiting impatiently for it and mainly thought: hurry up now. Towards the end, some things fall into place, but during the film itself that did not work. Too bad for me because the film has a lot of good things, while I was unable to enjoy it completely. The film works as a French-German film (the cities of Leipzig and especially Strasbourg were not chosen for nothing), the film works when it comes to the two young girls and the film also works as a coming of age film. Both young actresses know how to play their roles very naturally and convincingly and visibly. And visually, with that blue haze, I also found the film very nice. 3.5*.

Translated from Dutch · View original