Last tango of the summertime. Seldom seen German romanticism is so emotional, frank, and sinful. Summer long secret passion and desire with raw and pure erotica from the recent Berlinale Competition. Workaholic director Emily Atef returns from Cannes in 2022 to rewind time to the fateful hot summer of 1990 with Depeche Mode as an adorable soundtrack. Just six months after the historical collapse of the Berlin Wall there is a wind of change and not only by Scorpions. Somewhere far out of the big city dreamy and impatient 18-year-old eager to be loved Maria falls for an intellectual farmer Henner who is more than twice her age from a first glance on an accidental encounter and tries to hide her new feelings from her caring boyfriend of a somewhat similar age.

Rising young star Marlene Burow blindly submerges into a divisive, debatable, provocative, and undeniably intimate romance of unrequited temporary love, which eliminates every hurdle on its way with such uncontrollable temptation and youthful lust. Two-faced Maria tests her limits with an eagerness to understand herself and the meaning of life, but Emily Atef doesn’t even begin to moralise or judge her. Such primitive, forbidden, and unpredictable love would never be accepted by society, family, or a loving partner. And Maria probably understands that she will not meet Henner again after the summer ends.

Edvinas Pukšta