The movie
A Voluntary Year
Urs, a village doctor, is excited that his 18-year old daughter is about to fly to Costa Rica, where she will do volunteer work. Unfortunately for liberal Urs, Jette is iffy about he whole thing - she’d just as soon stay with her new boyfriend...
Description
Often compared to Toni Erdmann (made by co-director Ulrich Köhler’s wife, Maren Ade) for its sardonic depiction of a father-daughter relationship, Köhler and co-director Henner Winckler’s film is more compact and just as dryly funny. Urs (Sebastian Rudolph), a village doctor, is excited that his 18-yearold daughter, Jette (very good newcomer Maj-Britt Klenke), is about to fly to Costa Rica, where she will do volunteer work. Unfortunately for liberal, well-meaning Urs, Jette is iffy about the whole thing - she’d just as soon stay in town and hang out with her new boyfriend, something for which Urs will not stand…
‘A wryly observed deconstruction of toxic masculinity. Funny and accessible… Maj-Britt Klenke is very striking in her first leading film role. She lends a quiet fury to her character’s eyes… Precisely calibrated and appealing in its understatement, A Voluntary Year packs a lot into its tight running time.’— Allan Hunter, Screen