LONGING, THE

Studied, subdued and all the more shocking for its bursts of passion and horror, THE LONGING is a Bressonian drama of the forbidden, described by its creator as “the story of an exemption.” Middle-aged Lena lives a repressed, submissive existence in a dreary town in the Swabian-Frankish forest, as the ever-dutiful spouse of the taciturn village minister, Johannes. She quietly, obediently, joylessly submits to her aged mate's rote sexual demands in bed, just as she meekly and unquestioningly nurses her sister-in-law Martha, an abusive tyrant of an invalid who can barely walk (but who has no trouble striking Lena in the face). The discovery of a local girl's corpse, and gossip of drugs and depravity in the community, serve as the catalyst for Lena meeting Paul, an auto mechanic whose easygoing warmth and emotional availability sums up everything that Johannes is not. Soon the prospect of an illicit affair with Paul opens up a new world of connectedness and sensuality for Lena. But there is a price to be paid for the relationship, as Lena learns a dreadful secret. The woman must now choose the most important man in her life, and determine how far she will go to protect him. It is a decision that will put to the test the clergyman's wife's well-practiced art of screaming in silence. (In German with English subtitles)