Prisoners


“You are in a space with no entrance, no window, and no ventilation system. How do you feel?” “Then how do I get in?” asks Irene evasively. Her friend Paula insists: “How do you feel in this dark space?” But Irene doesn’t answer. She knows this space. It is hers.

The space in which Irene lives encased in emptiness. Sitting with Paula in a bar. Walking down the long hallway at the university. Walking along the wall that separates her apartment from the prison next door. Standing at the window of her room looking over at the prison. A space Irene lives in, as if waiting.

One day the doorbell rings. Irene hesitantly opens the door. A man charges in, quickly shutting the door behind him. A fugitive from the prison next door, now making himself at home in her apartment. And Irene is unable to get away. Only, it slowly becomes more and more evident that she doesn’t want to get away. On the contrary: Irene has lured the stranger, sent him letters in prison. Now he is here holding her captive like a hostage, observing how she lives.

“A dark space that has no doors, no windows, and no ventilation system. How do you feel?” she asks him. Both of them, have the same answer to this question. Slowly they become closer. But then Paula shows up unexpectedly. The situation escalates and Irene must make a decision. She descends ever deeper into the space with no exit. And yet this is at once liberation from her prison.


Source: German Films Service & Marketing GmbH