Therese Affolter Movies

A young man makes a commitment to a pop singer on whom he has a crush - only to run headfirst into unforeseeable circumstances - in Swiss director Micha Lewinsky's gentle, offbeat seriocomedy Der Freund. For Emil Funk (Philippe Graber), Zurich-based musician Larissa Mahler (Emilie Weltie) is the essence of appeal and desirability; after watching her perform, he dreams of meeting her. The young man sees his wish come true in the form of a brief encounter with Larissa, but must contend with a bizarre request: she asks him to "pretend" to be her boyfriend. Emil obliges but grows understandably confused when Larissa disappears, then suddenly dies the next day. Recognizing the value of a commitment, he insists on standing by her family as an emotional anchor and guiding them through a period of intense sorrow - which draws him into a close and unexpected bond with Larissa's sister, Nora (Johanna Bantzer). ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This somber drama from director Margit Czenki draws from her experience in serving a five-year prison term for armed robbery. The main heroine spends weeks in solitary confinement, then encounters the typical dangers of being with other women behind bars. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

aka: Flies in the Light Although it is stylistically developed and refined, this thriller does not live up to its name since any "thrills" are sacrificed for the look and feel of B-movies in moods, sets, and camerawork. The plot wanders around in several directions at once but in a general sense, it is motivated by a pricey painting and those who would like to own it. A sophisticated art thief steals this painting from display in an art gallery and then has to turn around and steal it away from the site of a religious cult. Set up to recall mystery thrillers like The Maltese Falcon, Motten im Licht is a good formal imitation but would need a Dashiell Hammett to bring it up to par. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This human drama that unfolds quite slowly, is the story of the village woman Agnes (Therese Affolter) and her gradual adjustment after the trauma of being raped when she was a little girl. Agnes has an admirer, Adi (Siegfried Zimmerschied) who lives on the next-door farm, and their families hope the two will one day marry. Although Adi has fallen in love with Agnes, she is indecisive about her own feelings for him and besides, she is plagued by nightmares that prevent her from having a normal relationship. Then one day her family's barn burns to the ground and a young boy who was infatuated with Agnes dies in the blaze. Since some villagers feel Agnes is "cursed," she eventually opts to leave the village and stay with a friend in a larger, nearby town. On arrival, she discovers her friend works at a cabaret-style brothel and for awhile Agnes is tempted to sleep with one of the womanizers in the town -- until Adi arrives and she changes her mind. Both Adi and Agnes return to the village, and indications are that there is some hope for their future together, some hope that the nightmares will end. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

A cold and unfeeling society is the target of this conventional, aloof drama by Swiss director Beat Kuert. Herr Meier (Hans Madin) decides to take a break from his retired life in Frankfurt, so he has his driver Peter (Michael Maassen) take him to Switzerland to the villa of an old friend. When Meier arrives, he is greeted by a frigidly proper housekeeper (Anne-Marie Blanc) and no friend. The longer he stays, the stranger the environment becomes, until the housekeeper and her adult son and daughter seem downright menacing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi