The first image depicts a frail woman in a hospital hooked up to an IV. The camera moves in and seems to fixate on the needle in her arm. For the uninitiated, this introduction feels almost parody-esque of an Oscar foreign language film. Are we in for a two hour depression porn where beautiful Europeans slowly die from cancer?
Luckily, My Little Sister, Switzerland’s Oscar submission, is more than meets the eye in that opening moment. Yes, it’s a cancer drama. However, it’s a more unorthodox exploration of a complicated sibling dynamic...
The plot elements don’t always congeal quite so neatly and there are some aspects of the central relationship that could use more definition. Still, it’s heartening that writer/directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond took a more interesting path with the material.
Lisa (Nina Hoss) misses Berlin. A budding playwright, Lisa never quite achieved the success she imagined. Before she can reach for the upper echelons, her husband, Martin (Jens Albinus), moves her to Switzerland so he can teach an international school there. Their ski resort town, Leysin, is clean, nice and boring, like any affluent suburb.
Her older (by two minutes) brother Sven (Lars Eidinger) finds his successful acting career stopped in his tracks with his diagnosis of leukemia. He tries to rebel against the disease, turning up his already raucerous gay lifestyle up to 11. Unfortunately, it’s not long until the disease takes its toll and someone has to step in. Looking for a way out of Switzerland, Lisa runs to take care of Sven.
Rather than opt for an easy “sibling love triumphs all” narrative, My Little Sister explores what makes Lisa and Sven estranged. Sven’s stubbornness to get back on stage for a new production on Hamlet takes a toll on Lisa for multiple reasons. It’s hard to care for someone who doesn’t want to take care of themselves or understand the limits their disease places on them. Additionally, Lisa struggles with the vain fact that, even while he’s dying, her brother is having more success in the theater world than she had.
This is where the performances come out to shine. Nina Hoss oozes sadness and frustration in every scene. Rather than be one note, she pinpoints how each emotion is specific and rooted in a different insecurity in her life. It’s a powerful performance that zigs when you think it will zag. She’s easily the MVP of the film. Eidinger is best when he is playing off of Hoss. When together, they fill in a sibling bond you don’t get when they are separate. Even their mannerisms change and coalesce when they’re in the same room. Still, Eidinger’s antics trying to ignore his disease and live an unencumbered life are less effective.
We get some glimpses as to what Sven and Lisa’s upbringing might have been when we meet their loving, yet short fused, mother, Kathy (Marthe Keller). Yet, it takes a while to get invested in their sibling dynamic until things get much more dire and the stakes are raised. It would’ve been interesting and effective to have their personal histories defined a bit more. As good as the acting is, it feels like we are meeting the characters at square seven, rather than square one. The subplot around Lisa’s unhappy marriage definitely suffers in this regard. We’re only seeing the worst of their schism, so it's hard to see why she married Martin in the first place.
My Little Sister is many things, but tragedy porn it is not. Once one gets on the same wavelength with the movie, a wonderful sibling relationship unfolds. The plotting and story aren’t always perfect. Yet, the eccentricities of Lisa and Sven’s relationship makes this a fresh and interesting watch. B
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