Directed by Christian Schwochow
2016, 2h, 3 min. In German and French with English subtitles.

Swiss actress Carla Juri stars as German Expressionist painter Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876 – 1907) in this compelling story of avant-garde artist and feminist fighting to create art in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Painting is an unacceptable vocation for a woman in provincial Germany in the year 1900, but budding artist Paula Becker is determined to make her own rules. The exuberant 24-year-old woman rejects the conventional and explores her unique style. She flourishes in the countryside art community of Worpswede, where she develops friendships with artist Clara Westhoff and poet Rainer Maria Rilke. By marrying painter Otto Modersohn, she hopes to find a creative soulmate. He allows her to continue painting while assuming her duties as a good wife. Five years of domesticity take its toll on Paula's spirit, and she travels alone to modern Paris, where she studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and soon begins a romantic affair. Headstrong Paula is unstoppable: she embarks on a period that will become her most compelling; a long-awaited period of creative fulfilment and self-realization...

“lush, involving biopic of iconoclastic German painter Paula Modersohn-Becker” — Variety