Nena

Nena ploughs merrily back and forth in the swimming pool while her paraplegic father endures his physiotherapy exercises. Clad in a black leather jacket, self-confident Nena stands out among her classmates. No sooner does she meet young baseball pitcher Carlo at a match than she is smitten. Head over heels in love, Nena and Carlo head off into the countryside together on a motorbike. Everything is hunky dory – or is it? It is the summer of 1989 and half of Europe is in tumult. Nina’s life too takes a dramatic turn when her father’s suicide attempt shatters her own bliss. Angry and despondent, Nena is nonetheless obliged to face up to the fact that her father can no longer bear his own life. Torn between her love for her father and coming to terms with his death wish, Nena begins to ask herself some tough questions and tries to overcome her fears of losing him.
In her cinema debut, Saskia Diesing uses her own personal experiences to contemplate an individual’s right to determine his or her own life. The resulting film is a powerful portrait of her young protagonist’s inner struggle that also describes our need to go our own way in life.