BREAKING THE ICE

CLARA STERN | AUSTRIA | 2022 | 102 MIN | GERMAN S.-T.EN.

When Theresa is transferred to the Dragons, Mira’s big blue eyes watch her, absorbing her. Then, what seems to be, on the surface, a hockey film becomes something quirkier and altogether more intriguing. And fortunes will rise and fall by these women’s volatile chemistry.

Mira (Alina Schaller) is a perfectionist terrified of stepping off the proverbial tightrope. Hidden inside a Vancouver Canucks jersey, she tends dutifully to her family’s Austrian wine business, the vineyard edged by wind turbines, their slow turning. While, inside, pressures churn, causing her to rebuff the kindness of Theresa (Judith Altenberger) during practices and to become unmoored by the reappearance of her handsome, mercurial brother (an incredible Tobias Resch). Paul is an escape artist, fleeing his family, his very identity, but he is also the one to teach Mira how to be freer in her body, more playful with gender and appearance. And that’s when the fun begins, Mira, Theresa, and Paul becoming inseparable barflies but reckless in their responsibilities, which pound the ice to try and rouse them from their glassy-eyed stupors. The audience is unsure what to root for: constraint or total liberation.

screening at Cinéma J.A. de Sève | NOVEMBER 19th 7.15PM

ONLINE (november 20th to 24th)