‘Are you well? So-so…’
It was this Guardian article that led me to All Good, Eva Trobisch’s nuanced take on the aftermath of a sexual assault, and watching this German language film caused me to reflect on my relative lack of experience in the world of foreign cinema. The cinematic landscape is so dominated by English speaking films, only rarely does something break through into the mainstream (Parasite – to give one recent example). As my tastes never stray too far from the mainstream – as much as I’d like to think differently, I love me some Hollywood – All Good made me once again question just how much I am missing out on outside of my insular filmic cocoon.
Janne (Aenne Schwarz) is struggling. Her relationship to Piet (Andreas Döhler) is faltering due to financial stresses, her boss (Tilo Nest) is a little over familiar, and one of her co-workers (Hans Low) sexually assaulted her at a high school reunion just weeks before they started working together. Despite all this, Janne initially remains stoic in the face of adversity.
All Good is a layered film that takes a deep dive into the dynamics of the relationship between men and women. Janne is raped by one man, but she is also touched, ignored and belittled by others. Aside from the assault itself, none of these smaller moments amount to much on their own, but when viewed together, writer/director Eva Trobisch presents an unflattering take on men and the way they treat women. In this respect, it feels like a natural precursor to 2019’s #MeToo drama The Assistant.
In lesser hands, this could have become too moralistic, too accusatory or too hysterical, but Aenne Schwarz delivers an affecting and authentic performance, and it is her heartbreaking determination to carry on as normal that carries the whole project. She takes the viewer with her on her story, every grimace and downward glance telling its own story.
For those who will only stray into foreign language cinema for the big hitters, perhaps there isn’t enough here to force that transition, but for curious parties, or for those with an interest in the subject matter, All Good is a complex and nuanced take on gender politics.