Lovely Rita
A recent triumph at Cannes, where it was heralded as the European Discovery of the Year, Jessica Hausner's first feature develops her preoccupation with the themes of loneliness and indifference.
Uncertainly moving between childhood and womanhood, Rita (Osika) is a 15-year-old living in a Vienna suburb with her strict Catholic parents. Disliked by her schoolmates, rude to teachers, and misunderstood by her parents, the wilfully rebellious Rita prefers to spend her time with a younger schoolboy - who she enlists to lose her virginity. When this fails, she seeks the attention of the local bus driver. Only succeeding in increasing her isolation, Rita then makes an unexpected move. Free of melodramatic histrionics, Hausner stays firm with her naturalistic approach, an uncomfortable atmosphere of subdued tensions, and familial artifice as Rita negotiates all manner of forced family rituals - particularly on her father's birthday. Such downplay makes Rita's eventual devastating action all the more shocking - more so as it could be straight from the news.
Certificate: 15
Key cast / credits:
Dir/Writer: Jessica Hausner
Cast: Barbara Osika, Christoph Bauer, Peter Fiala
Running time: 79 mins
Release date: November 2001 (Austria)
Country: Austria
Language: German
Format available: 35mm
"...witty and insightful..." Sight and Sound
"...deliciously observed..." The Observer