TIME OF MOULTING
dir. Sabrina Mertens, 2020
Germany. 82 min.
In German with English subtitles.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4 - 7:30 PM
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19 - 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24 - 10 PM

In 1970s West Germany, young Stephanie (Zelda Espenschied) lives with her emotionally stunted parents, sequestered from life outside their cluttered home. Her father oscillates between ignoring and denigrating her, while her unstable mother’s cloying affection may actually be the most sinister thing happening within their walls. Discouraged from playing with the neighborhood children, Stephanie’s only friend is her own imagination, which absorbs every decrepit family “heirloom” in the house, from the grandfather’s old butcher’s tools to her grandmother’s dentures. Years later, the curious little girl has matured into a cold, frightening young woman (Miriam Schiweck) whose oppressive surroundings cultivated in her a disturbing erotic life. She is an animal growing up in captivity, unable to molt.

Described by director Sabrina Mertens as a “still life of a family in 57 pictures,” TIME OF MOULTING creates a Gothic portrait out of a series of vignettes, private moments from which we can construct a murky idea of what went wrong with Stephanie. Unable to crawl out from under the rubble of her parents’ repression, she also cannot escape the shadow of violence wrought by the country’s previous generation. Dark fantasies and isolation coalesce in one girl, building to an unforgettable conclusion. While the film lets the viewer in on plenty of secrets, the most disturbing parts of this family’s life are perhaps what we do not see.