Das Vorspiel
Well-balanced portrait of a music teacher on the verge of a nervous breakdown because of her obsessive dedication to one young student.
Anna lives together with her teenage son Jonas, who also attends her music school, and her French luthier husband Philippe. When she, against all advice, decides to take the young Alexander under her wing to prepare him for an important exam, she completely ignores her son Jonas, who is working towards an equally important exam. Also, the distance between Anna and her husband Philippe is increasing because of her impulsive choices and destructive behaviour. A nervous breakdown seems inevitable.
The theme of obsessive behaviour in a high-class adult world is quite intriguing, as Michael Haneke already proved in his masterpiece LA PIANISTE. Besides this overlap in subject matter, the perfectly cold-blooded tone of protagonist Nina Hoss also reminds of the amazing performance of Isabelle Huppert in LA PIANISTE. They both play ticking time bombs, as it were. In the end, the most praiseworthy aspect of their performances is that they sense exactly where in the film they should explode.