Screened as part of NZIFF 2020

Lara 2019

Directed by Jan Ole Gerster Widescreen

Corinna Harfouch is unforgettable as a mother reaching out, in her own severe way, to her classical pianist son and her own erstwhile artistic ambitions, in director Jan-Ole Gerster’s high-tensile drama.

Germany In German with English subtitles
98 minutes VOD maximum viewer capacity applies – rent early to avoid disappointment

Director

Producers

Marcos Kantis
,
Martin Lehwald
,
Michal Pokorny

Screenplay

Blaž Kutin

Photography

Frank Griebe

Editor

Isabel Meier

Production designer

K.D. Gruber

Costume designer

Anette Guther

Music

Arash Safaian

With

Corinna Harfouch (Lara)
,
Tom Schilling (Viktor)
,
André Jung (Mr Czerny)
,
Volkmar Kleinert (Reinhofer)
,
Rainer Bock (Viktor’s father)

Festivals

Karlovy Vary, Vancouver, London, Chicago 2019

Awards

Special Jury Prize & Best Actress, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2019

Elsewhere

A lacerating character study of a contentious woman, Lara is a thoroughly compelling drama that spans a day in its eponymous heroine’s life. It’s not just any day: Lara is turning 60, although this gives her little reason to celebrate. More importantly, that evening her son Victor, a virtuoso pianist, will perform an original composition for the first time. However, Lara isn’t invited and Victor has been ignoring her calls – for weeks. But on Victor’s big night, Lara shall not be shunned.
Lara’s complex and unnerving personality is revealed through her interactions with former work colleagues, a cab driver neighbour, her ex-husband, her mother and her own piano teacher, among others, each encounter adding a brushstroke to the portrait. The picture, while not pretty, is engrossing: monstrous castrating mother, envious of and undermining her son’s talents which she spent years moulding; an embittered woman riddled with thwarted ambition; a manipulative boss who once filled her underlings with fear, possibly just because she could. Corinna Harfouch’s nuanced performance makes Lara entirely believable and in less accomplished directorial hands, this tale could have swerved into farce or melodrama. Lara has her reasons, and although not necessarily defensible, she completely fascinates. — Sandra Reid

About the Filmmaker
Jan-Ole Gerster is a German director based in Berlin. His debut feature, Oh Boy (NZIFF12), starring Tom Schilling, was a surprise hit on the international festival circuit. Lara is his second feature film.