Lea

For a long time, everything appears to be black as the night: the Slovakian girl Lea witnesses her own father murder her mother. She is transferred, almost dumb from shock, to an adoptive home. One day, when she is 21 years old, a German by the name of Strehlow offers her new father 50000 DM for his daughter. The adoptive father accepts the offer and Lea is brought to Strehlow's house in order to become his wife. Strehlow is a stern and brutal man who never laughs. When he discovers that Lea writes daily letters to someone in her old country, he takes the opportunity to get her to do what he wants: if she does not obey him, he will take away her sheets of paper and stamps. But he does not succeed: time after time, Lea tries to escape; time after time, he is forced to search for her and bring her back home. But then, just when it seems as if there is only one possible and terrible conclusion, Strehlow finds Lea's hidden poems in a ruin close to their house. These poems become the voice he never hears from her mouth. Strehlow reads, and slowly he becomes aware of the reason for Lea's silence and maybe, maybe he can make her speak again. The severe faces begin to thaw as the two of them, who have lived shut in for such a long time, start to investigate the difficult art of communication. Every glance, every word turns into a tentative antenna in an exceedingly varied acting, completely controlled by Lenka Vlasakova and Christian Redl. Ivan Fila's first feature is based on a true story. A couple of years ago, an unexpected find was discovered in a small village in east Slovakia: a large amount of letters and poems written by an unknown poet was found in a subterranean cavern. An urn filled with ashes was also found. Thanks to the local postman, the mystery could be solved. It became clear that the ashes were the remains of a local woman, and the poems were written by her late daughter, Lea Gahut. Lea had continued to send poems, a long time after she had moved from the village, and the postman distributed them to her mother's grave. Inspired by this story, and by the peculiar beauty in the poems, Ivan Fila wrote the script to Lea. A strange film about love and oppression, about a dumbness that yields and about an awakening zest for life.