What's at play here is infighting between relatives. Paul, a moppy haired teen, arrives at his uncle Stefan's summer home unexpectedly to the obvious annoyance of Stefan's wife Anna and their son Robert.
Paul's father has recently committed suicide and Paul is clearly in something of a daze. But he gradually begins to become a part of the household aided by communal walks in a nearby forest and games of pingpong with Robert.
Robert is a pianist of some skill preparing for an audition for a class of young students. What becomes clear is that Robert is chafing under his mother's insistence at keeping up with his practice routine and as a result perhaps drinks rum on the sly and takes breaks to play pingpong with Paul, to his mother's annoyance.
Paul is infatuated with Anna who clearly is aroused by the sight of him bare chested.
Cherchez la femme as it so often is but Anna is not really a bad sort. The intimacy she shares with Paul is a token of her affection, but she fails to realize how it would affect the impressionable 16 year old still reeling from the loss of his father.
Anna has understandably great ambitions for Robert but reacts in a very harsh way when he crumples under the stress.
Paul takes his revenge for what he sees as a betrayal by Anna by drowning Anna's cherished dog,Schumann.
Uncle Stefen is too busy with work to realize the self destruction going on in his household.
Sebastian Urzendowsky as Paul and Marion Mitterhammer as Anna give particularly fine performances in this interesting film.
Paul's father has recently committed suicide and Paul is clearly in something of a daze. But he gradually begins to become a part of the household aided by communal walks in a nearby forest and games of pingpong with Robert.
Robert is a pianist of some skill preparing for an audition for a class of young students. What becomes clear is that Robert is chafing under his mother's insistence at keeping up with his practice routine and as a result perhaps drinks rum on the sly and takes breaks to play pingpong with Paul, to his mother's annoyance.
Paul is infatuated with Anna who clearly is aroused by the sight of him bare chested.
Cherchez la femme as it so often is but Anna is not really a bad sort. The intimacy she shares with Paul is a token of her affection, but she fails to realize how it would affect the impressionable 16 year old still reeling from the loss of his father.
Anna has understandably great ambitions for Robert but reacts in a very harsh way when he crumples under the stress.
Paul takes his revenge for what he sees as a betrayal by Anna by drowning Anna's cherished dog,Schumann.
Uncle Stefen is too busy with work to realize the self destruction going on in his household.
Sebastian Urzendowsky as Paul and Marion Mitterhammer as Anna give particularly fine performances in this interesting film.