Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise Trilogy ends on a tender note, with large doses of adolescent curiosity and awkwardness. Thirteen-year-old Melanie, Teresa’s daughter (first introduced in Paradise: Love), is sent to a diet camp while her mother vacations in Kenya. There she immediately bonds with her stigmatized young friends through frank sex talks, games of spin the bottle, and a furtive jaunt to a nightclub. The dramatic punch comes as the teen develops an infatuation with the camp’s handsome, 50-something doctor. Both the naïve girl and the mature man find themselves fighting their respective vulnerabilities and temptations in a reverse of the Lolita story. 2013, DCP, in German with English subtitles, 91 minutes.
Paradise: Hope (Paradies: Hoffnung)
