Rico lives with his wife and two daughters on their vineyard at the foot of the Alps. The budding sexuality of the enchanting Lilli upsets the previously harmonious life of the family. The girl becomes a woman and the glance of the father loses its innocence. Appalled Rico rejects his daughter. His suppressed desire torments him and the rebuffed daughter finds unusual ways to re-claim her place in the paradise of childhood. She makes her father the witness of her cruel games. The situation peaks in a tragic climax that inevitably takes its course. An atmospheric family drama in which the unuttered, the inexplicable determines and changes everything. “It is a story of temptation, lies and truth about the power of children over their parents and parents over their children. Film is not supposed to explain why Lilli does what she does nor intended to psychologise, but rather to pose the question why, ruminate over, allude to and speculate about, but not provide resolutions. The helplessness experienced in confronting the perpetrators triggers the desire to understand. One hopes that cruelty, sadism or the tendency to be willing to use violence have to somehow be embedded in the biography of the perpetrator: traumatic experiences are considered as causes for social disorders. This is the aspect that fascinates me the most, where analysis does not get any further, where the step to the brink of disaster begins”, says Katalin Gödrös.
