Fresh
Forest has the look of a film that might have been made by a first-timer with visions of Sundance in her head.
Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
The Forest for the Trees
2004 · 1h 21m · Not Rated
Comedy, Drama
Directed by
Maren Ade
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The Forest for the Trees
Overview
As an awkward idealistic high school teacher begins her first job in the city, things turn out to be much tougher than she had imagined.
Director and cast
- Maren Ade Director
- Eva Löbau as Melanie Pröschle
- Daniela Holtz as Tina Schaffner
- Jan Neumann as Thorsten Rehm
- Ilona Schulz as Frau Sussmann
- Robert Schupp as Tobias
- Heinz Röser-Dümmig as Lutger Reinhardt
- Martina Eckrich as Renate Pföhler
- Nina Fiedler as Bine
- Hans-Rüdiger Kucich as Gerd Postweiler
- Ruth Köppler as Elvira Fischer-Walter
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
79%
Tomatometer
Fresh
An affecting, very intelligent work, done with an eye for realism and a heart for the lonely, insulted and injured.
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Fresh
Tapping in to primal fears of professional ineptitude and social rejection with an almost sadistic meticulousness, The Forest for the Trees is a precisely modulated first film.
Eddie Cockrell, Variety
Fresh
Eva Lobau's lynchpin performance as Melanie is a shattering lesson in the tropes of timidity and awkwardness, and serves in taking this cinema of cruelty into as yet uncharted territory.
Time Out
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