Lovely Rita (2001)

Cautiously Recommended

Austria/Germany

Feature Film

Writer/Director: Jessica Hausner

Cinematographer: Martin Gschlacht

Cast: Barbara Osika, Christoph Bauer, Peter Fiala, Wolfgang Kostal, Karina Brandlmayer

Despite featuring some rather bland photography and generally awkward performances, Hausner’s feature debut, a portrait of a sullen, unloved teenaged girl, is never less than fascinating if not exactly accomplished viewing, as it follows her various sexual misadventures as she struggles to find room for her burgeoning womanhood amidst her repressive bourgeois surroundings. Iain.Stott