All Good (Alles ist gut) is not just the title of Eva Trobisch’s first feature film, but also Janne’s (Schwarz) defiant attitude towards being a victim of rape. She is a thoroughly modern woman, intent on being strong and moving on, but inevitably repressing her trauma infects her relationships as well as her daily life.

Couple Janne and Piet (Döhler) start out happy, despite their co-owned publishing business having recently fallen into bankruptcy. Their focus has shifted to an old house in the countryside they plan to renovate together. But the initial idyll is undercut when Janne meets Martin (Löw) at her high school reunion. The two of them get drunk together, she offers him a place to stay, and, intoxicated as he is, he misinterprets her generosity and forces himself on her.

Janne endures her rape after a brief struggle, but she does not report the crime, nor does she tell anyone about it. There is a particular poignancy in the film’s refusal to even call the rape such, though the actual scene leaves no doubt about it. Schwarz portrays Janne’s inner life with subtlety and depth, both in the struggle against her victimhood and in the way the character unravels as she loses her hold on life while stubbornly clinging to her desperate insistence that everything is fine.

All Good gracefully avoids the temptation to paint characters in black and white. They are all relatable in some way – even Martin, whose own struggle with the heinous act Janne refuses to name becomes obvious in their awkward interactions.

Only in the end does the strength of the script falter, wrapping up the plot too quickly and too neatly, but Trobisch has inspired impressive performances from her actors and has created an impactful and current film for the post-Weinstein era.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Aenne Schwarz, Andreas Döhler, Hans Löw, Tilo Nest, Lina Wendel

DIRECTOR: Eva Trobisch

WRITERS: Eva Trobisch

SYNOPSIS: “If you don’t see any problems, you don’t have any” is Janne’s attitude regarding the fact that her new boss’s brother-in-law has slept with her against her will.

[TRAILER FORTHCOMING]