Lisa has bid goodbye to her ambitions as a playwright and the Berlin Art scene and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, who runs an international school. When her twin brother falls ill, she returns to Berlin.
“My Little Sister,” otherwise known as “Schwesterlein,” is comprised of a cast hell-bent on delivering an emotional performance that doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of cancer without exaggerating its tragedy into an overexaggerated melodrama. Starring Nina Hoss as Lisa and Lars Eidinger as Sven, “My Little Sister” showcases a tender relationship between siblings of the opposite gender as they are challenged by the woes of leukemia.
Sibling relationships are often complicated in media portrayals, plagued by family drama and driven by other motivations than love. However, the level of sympathetic companionship that exists between the Eidinger twins is one that incites heartwarming and bittersweet emotions. The way Lisa continues to choose to prioritize Lars through his fight against cancer and against his dying acting career despite having her own personal woes in her marriage is a familial sacrifice born out of a true bond. It is pragma, enduring love, and it is agape, selfless love, that drives the tender heart of the film without kitsch.
Hoss is quite the portrait in the film as she explores the different facets of being a dependable woman. She is vulnerable to the struggles of her loved ones but she is exceedingly hard on herself for failures that are not solely of her accountability. She plays the perfectionist, reflecting the type of women who struggle to ask for help and who are constantly lying to themselves to protect their loved ones from disappointment and failure. Yet Hoss is still the portrait of endurance, suppressing her own conflicting inner demons with a mask defined by her bright eyes and tense jaw. It is only until her mask cracks as she slams a scooter against a trash bin do we get to witness the depth in which Hoss plays a woman responding to trauma with a rare expression of violence. It was simple but brilliant.
On the other hand, Eidinger must’ve had a greater struggle in avoiding a portrait of the stereotypically dying cancer patient. There is a clear demonstration of the stages of grief, but they are elevated – not only by Eidinger’s fighting spirit but through his on-screen chemistry with Hoss. Playing twins is no easy feat yet Hoss and Eidinger seem to bounce off of each other’s energy, using grief as a stress that pushes their relationship and their respective performances forward. Eidinger looks as his character probably feels in the thrusted woes of cancer but markets his resilience by an active performance of vulnerability to rely on Hoss as his twin sister.
“My Little Sister” is a sensitive film, generous with the limelight on its actors to portray a rather common struggle with unique understandings of the need for subtlety in the expression of grief. The film flows well without much transitions in light or music production but focuses on how relationships are the central component of creating a film that touches the heart of humanity.
In Select Theaters Friday, January 15th
