MALOU

Germany - 1981 - Color - 95'

Dir.: Jeanine Meerapfel | Scr.: Jeanine Meerapfel, Grischa Huber, Michael Juncker | Cin.: Michael Ballhaus | Ed.: Dagmar Hirtz | Mus.: Peer Raben | Cast: Ingrid Caven, Grischa Huber, Helmut Griem, Ivan Desny, Marie Colbin, Peter Chatel | Prod.: Michael Böhme, Robert van Ackeren, Regina Ziegler

Driven by the problems in her marriage, Hannah a strong, independent woman looks back on her French mother’s life Malou who followed her German jew husband to his country and with the rise of Nazism ended up in Argentina. Through a series of flashbacks we learn of the mother's stormy life, the men who defined her destiny and the difficulty she had in bringing her up.

Meerapfel's first feature is a meandering but delicate study of belonging and female self-discovery that makes its feminist points in ambiguous, even teasing fashion. 

It won the FIPRESCI award in Cannes and that of Best Direction in San Sebastian festival.