Synopsis
Any instructions on how to be a woman these days? Everything seems possible for the thirty-somethings tackling their lives today, as the globalized world offers a myriad of options - more than ever before. On the flip side, the certainties we used to lean on have become alarmingly shaky: Wedding rings don’t actually possess love-preserving magic powers; a university degree does not necessarily come with a job offer - and let’s just not speak of retirement provisions. Past generations’ gender roles and concepts of living are no longer valid for their daughters - and mothers, half admiringly, half doubtfully, watch their thirty-year-olds plough their way through the overwhelming choices freedom offers them.Over a period of three years, director Beatrice Möller followed three of those young women on their individual search for the 'right' way to live their lives. Actress Marie-Sarah is always on the go – moving house for the 29th time has not made her come home. She longs to live many lives at once, but struggles with professional and financial insecurity. Claudia, whose parents worry whether their free-lance journalist daughter’s life isn’t too inefficient and aimless, throws herself into the adventure of starting a family. And Mona, having grown up in Palestine, enjoys the liberties she has fought for - until a disease confronts her with the question her contemporaries tend to delay again and again: How long do I have to make my decisions?
In their pursuit of happiness, all three of them hover between the desire to find some calm, and the fear of tying themselves down too early – between opportunities, doubts, and the pressure of time. Interlaced with dialogue between mothers and daughters, Beatrice`s film draws a sensitive image of a generation of women who, like none before them, can shape their lives according to their own desires.