Der letzte Sommer der Reichen

The Last Summer of the Rich

Young and attractive company executive Hanna von Stezewitz (Amira Casar) has everything, and just takes whatever she doesn't. She's an arrogant and unscrupulous manipulator who has politicians and banks in her pocket – she's a perfect example of predatory capitalism whose preferred sartorial look is patent leather and leather. To avoid boredom she seeks ever more extreme kicks and sees her abuse of a young girl with hopes of a career merely as collateral damage, nothing money can't fix. The only person who stands in her way is her bedridden grandfather, the family patriarch, and his reactionary worldview. Desperate to be rid of him, she hires a killer. When Hanna unexpectedly finds a lover who is her equal in the shape of Sarah, the nun who is her grandfather's nurse, her happiness seems complete. But does she really have everything under control?

Peter Kern has succeeded in creating an angry, opulent portrait of manners in which everyone – rich or poor – is corruptible or at least susceptible to seduction, and criminality and capital go hand in glove. A merry dance of corruption in which anyone who steps out of time is simply brushed aside.

Source: 65. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)