Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen
Director: Maren Ade
Writer: Maren Ade
Cast: Eva Löbau, Daniela Holtz, Jan Neumann
Seen on: 29./30.12.2025

Content Note: suicide (implied)

Plot:
Melanie Pröschle (Eva Löbau) is moving from the country to the big city where she got a job as a teacher, her first job. Young, idealistic and imagining a bright future, Melanie is ready to start. But she soon finds that making friends in the city is not that easy, though she tries very hard with her neighbor Tina (Daniela Holtz). And neither the students, nor the other teachers take too kindly to her soft-spoken attempts to introduce new teaching methods.

Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen is a fantastic film, with a great performance by Eva Löbau, but it asks ist audience to really stomach a lot of embarassment – your appreciation for that will probably vary.

Der Wald vor lauter Bäumen manages a very delicate balance: we see Melanie’s idealism and her friendliness, her excitement and her hope. And then we see how she oversteps pretty much every boundary she can find in her quest to befriend Tina (both her own and Tina’s) and how she is unable to set any boundaries at all with her students. Her actions are partly really indefensible and I am pretty sure I also wouldn’t particularly like her if I met her in the real world.

At the same time, we know why she acts the way she does and we get to see the vulnerabilities that drive her actions. As sharp as Ade’s analysis is of her character, it is never without empathy or warmth. Löbau really is perfect in the role, giving Melanie not one mean bone, but a lot of desperation as she blunders her way through the world.

Rarely have I seen a film that made me want to put its protagonist into therapy as much as this one, especially because I feel like she doesn’t need that much to be a much happier person. And at the same time, we get great moments when the film, Melanie and/or Melanie’s situation are genuinely funny. There is always a kernel of embarassment in the humor, but its never schadenfreude which is important.

The film is shot in early digital format (or at least that’s what it looks like), and this kind of home movie vibe that choice gives off makes it feel even more personal and intimate, making it even harder to get away from Melanie than simply by virtue of Löbau’s magnetic performance. I would have liked it if the film had ended on a more positive note, but other than that, I have no complaints.

Summarizing: great.