What do you owe a twin when your own life has moved to another country? Schwesterlein, a 2020 Swiss drama directed by the duo Véronique Reymond and Stéphanie Chuat, puts that question to a playwright who has stopped writing.
What is Schwesterlein about?
Lisa used to be part of Berlin's theatre world, a playwright with a voice of her own. These days she lives in Switzerland, having moved there for her husband Martin, who runs a private school, and the stage has slipped into her past. Then her twin brother Sven, already ill with leukaemia, takes a sharp turn for the worse. Lisa feels the pull of the city and the people she came from and decides she has to go back to be near him. That choice does not stay contained: the closer she moves to her brother, the more strain it places on her marriage and on the settled life she built abroad.
About the cast
The cast is led by Nina Hoss and Lars Eidinger, with Marthe Keller and Jens Albinus next in the credits, followed by Thomas Ostermeier, Isabelle Caillat, Moritz Gottwald and Urs Jucker. The story turns on three relationships — a sister and her twin, a wife and her husband, and a family around a sickbed — so the drama rests on a tight circle of performers working in close quarters. Reymond and Chuat share the directing credit.
Context & significance
Schwesterlein is a family drama about illness told from the side of the person who is not sick. Its subject is the caretaker: someone who set her own ambitions aside once already, for a marriage and a move, and is now asked to rearrange her life again. The bond between twins gives the story its particular weight, since Lisa and Sven are presented as two people whose lives have always been measured against each other. Geography matters too. Berlin stands for the artistic life Lisa left, and Switzerland for the orderly existence she chose, so every trip between the two is also a decision about who she is. The film is a Swiss production from 2020 and runs 99 minutes. Its Persian title, «خواهر کوچک», translates as 'little sister', which points to where the film's sympathy sits.
Watching Schwesterlein on Ktime
Schwesterlein can be streamed on K-Time, a Persian-focused service for the Iranian diaspora. Reading this page costs nothing; watching the film requires logging in with a K-Time account. This title is listed with both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so you can choose whichever suits your household, and the whole K-Time experience is available in Farsi.