Meier is one of those European directors alongside the likes of Petzold and Ozon, who seem to keep effortlessly bumping out high quality films which are humanist and sceptical with regards to genre. Her films interrogate family and its constraints. Dramatically engaging characters seek to sort out their lives against a backdrop of confusion and thwarted dreams. In The Line, Christina is the middle aged mother of three grown up children. A former concert pianist, she is dominant and stifling, but much loved. The film kicks off with a deliberately melodramatic sequence where the tension breaks and the angular and angry Margret, her eldest daughter, attacks her. The film then becomes about the fall-out from this moment, as Margret struggles to overcome her anger, whilst Christina’s other two daughters, Louise & Marion, try to find a way to live within a family at war. Stéphanie Blanchoud’s portrayal of Margret as a scarred soul seeking to overcome her flaws is beautifully acted. Whilst never appearing to be groundbreaking or sensationalist, Meier delivers constant tension around the simple premise: can this fucked up family recover? Or is it destined to be caught in a brutal cycle with no way out?
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