FILM REVIEW

Jennifer K Mahal

In a strange way, “Julietta” is reminiscent of the original (and

controversial) Luke and Laura story line on “General Hospital.” There is

a sexual encounter, and whether or not you define it as rape will affect

how you feel about the rest of the film.

Julietta (Lavinia Wilson), 18, gets separated from her boyfriend Jiri

(Matthias Koeberlin) at the Berlin Love Parade. Under the influence of

party drugs, the young woman collapses and is rescued by Max (Barnaby

Metschurat), who then -- in a bizarre twist -- has sex with her while

she’s still in a semiconscious state. Max doesn’t just leave her and run

away, however. The club DJ takes her to his mobile bus/pad and ends up

dropping her off at the train station, where she boards a train back to

Stuttgart and school.

Max and Jiri bump into on another and become friends, with Max moving

into Jiri’s apartment building. When Julietta, who had blanked out while

having sex with Max, comes back to Berlin to tell Jiri she’s pregnant,

she finds Max instead. Jiri has disappeared and Max and Julietta find

themselves attracted to one another. But the secret Max keeps eats away

at him.

“Julietta,” in German with English subtitles, is a complex twist on a

coming-of-age film. Director Christoph Stark doesn’t give any easy

answers to either his characters or the audience.

* “Julietta” will play at 11 a.m. Monday in the Lido Theater, 3459 Via

Lido, Newport Beach.