All Good – Don’t See a Problem, Don’t Have a Problem

Boundaries – who and what defines them, what prevents us from taking a stand, what makes us keep convincing ourselves that it is, like the title says, All Good? Once the boundaries are crossed, it is easier to redefine them and thus incorporate them into our lives and image of ourselves than to face the consequences. Although the problem only seemingly disappears, every response takes place in a certain context, therefore it includes many external elements changing together with our reactions.

The protagonist of this film, Janne, is a person trying to resolve everything with reason and intellect. She believes that it is a matter of decision how much time we give our emotions and moods. She cannot change the fact that she was raped, but she can change the way she copes with it. She refuses to accept the role of a victim or a loser, and doesn’t want to be defined by a single event, and this is why this topic is portrayed in a very light manner, with an accent more on her life than the specific event depicted in the film only briefly.

Once this scene was already in the script, director Eva Trobisch realised it is less about sexuality and more about power relations between men and women. It is not about the perpetrator and the victim, but about how two people involved negotiate about something in a very unusual way. Besides, All Good speaks about pride in its most fragile form.

Considering this in the context of #MeToo, it is interesting to take a look the reasons of Janne’s silence. She is repulsed by the affectivity and intensity of the society’s approach to this issue and this is not her way of fight. The other reason is that is ‘she makes a drama about it’, she might lose her job, therefore silence is her conscious decision, like in the case of many women influenced by the #MeToo movement. The script was written much before the establishment of the movement, but now it bears a completely differently meaning and weight.

Eva Trobisch’s graduation film was screened and awarded at Locarno Film Festival (Swatch Award for Best Feature Debut), and it won the awards for best director, best actress and FIPRESCI in the new German film section at this year’s Filmfest Munich.

All Good competes in the feature film section, scheduled for Wednesday, 1pm at Tuškanac cinema, and later the same day, at 9pm, Europa cinema.

partneri