Barefoot 2005

Nick Keller’s life is far from orderly, as he drifts from one temporary job to the next, entangled in clashes with Heinrich Keller, his powerful stepfather, and with his brother Viktor Keller. His latest position is as a cleaner at a psychiatric clinic, where he manages to pull a barefoot patient Leila back from hanging herself just as he is about to be fired.

Leila’s story is equally intricate. The first nineteen years of her life were spent confined at home by her mother, and after her mother’s death she ends up hospitalized in the clinic, still desperate to leave. Emotionally, she is still a child—everything she is told is taken literally, and she recoils from physical contact with strangers. In the clinic, her path intersects with a medical professional, Dr. Blöchinger appearing here as a guiding voice, who becomes part of her care. The unexpected consequence of Nick’s rescue is that Leila secretly follows him, in her nightdress and barefoot, and she appears at his door that very night. After Leila vehemently refuses to return to the clinic, the two of them set off on a road trip to attend his brother’s wedding to Nick’s ex-girlfriend, a journey that becomes a test of trust and a fragile connection.

On the road, their relationship grows in intensity. The shared dependence and danger illuminate a bond that neither can easily define, even as Nick remains haunted by family disputes and his own sense of responsibility. Yet the trip also foreshadows the cracks in Nick’s protective stance: after a series of serious clashes with his family, he tries once more to hospitalize Leila, a moment that forces him to confront a truth he has been resisting—he has fallen in love with her.

The tension erupts in legal and moral peril when Nick is arrested for attempted kidnapping, and Leila is returned to the clinic. In a desperate bid to stay close to her, Nick pretends to have mental problems so he can enter the clinic with Leila, but the situation only relaxes when Leila, in a moment of crisis, makes another suicide attempt and her doctor admits him to be near her. The film closes on a quieter note, with the pair seen together months later, shopping in a supermarket after their release, their future uncertain but already altered by the choices they have made and the risks they have taken.