A Year Ago in Winter

The life of the seemingly intact family of Eliane and Thomas Richter suddenly collapses when their 19-year-old son Alexander is killed in a tragic accident. To help herself get over the loss the deeply distraught mother commissions the famous artist Max Hollander to paint a portrait of Alexander based on photographs of the boy, together with his sister Lilli. Lilli herself has her own problems. A talented 22-year-old dance and voice student, she loses the chance to dance a principal role when she gets in a quarrel with her teacher. She also has problems with her boyfriend, an artist she clings to a bit too much. And finally she thinks her mother′s plan to hang her brother as "decoration" on the wall is ridiculous.

Through the encounter with the much older artist Lilli begins to win back her self-confidence. Max is drawn ever deeper into the complex, emotionally charged network of the family. Personal losses in the painter′s own life have left painful traces in him too. Together Max and Lilli begin to come to grips with their grievous pasts.

In her new film Caroline Link delves into the moving inner lives of the figures, painting a complex family portrait as well as a tension-filled psychograph of an intensive and unusual encounter.

Source: 59. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)