Fraulein

Fraulein is really three-stars worth of movie elevated to four stars by the performance of Mirjana Karanovic. This is a Swiss-made film—made by a woman, Andrea Staka, of Bosnian and Croatian heritage—about refugees from the former Yugoslavia who have ended up in Geneva. The idea is to present a cross-section of ages—the middle-aged Ruza (Karanovic), the young Ana (Marija Skarcic), the elderly Mila (Ljubica Jovic)—and how they deal with their refugee status. It’s an intriguing notion and a reasonably compelling movie (helped by a brief running time), but it never really digs very far beneath the surface. It also tends toward generic storytelling conventions. Will the youthful enthusiasm of Ana break through the icy reserve of Ruza? What do you think? Karanovic manages to at least give the illusion of a real character—mostly through her physical acting—without much help from the screenplay. A good attempt, but one that falls short of its apparent goal.