
In May of 1983, a man turns 49 and, with his 17-year old son, journeys to the village in Baden that he left 40 years before. He wants to discover what happened then, the truth about an affair his mother had with a young Polish prisoner of war, how the authorities came to learn of it, the lovers' arrest, and the aftermath. While his son takes Polaroid photographs, he retraces the steps of his childhood and interviews those who should remember. The story is disclosed in flashbacks that focus on the lovers (Paulina and Stanislaus), on a jealous and conniving neighbor, and on Mayer, the local SS commander who wants to find a way out of inevitable consequences.

Hanna Schygulla
Pauline Kropp
Piotr Łysak
Stanislaus

Armin Mueller-Stahl
Mayer

Ralf Wolter
Schulze

Daniel Olbrychski
Wiktorczyk

Bernhard Wicki
Dr. Borg

Gérard Desarthe
Karl Wyler

Elisabeth Trissenaar
Elisabeth Schnittgens

Sigfrit Steiner
Melchior
Erika Wackernagel
Frau Melchior

Ben Becker
Klaus

Otto Sander
Narrator

Dogville
Dogville

Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful

Three Days to Forever
Three Days to Forever

Titanic
Titanic

Downfall
Downfall

Roman Holiday
Roman Holiday

Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg

Dead Landscape
Dead Landscape

Lolita
Lolita

In the Mood for Love
In the Mood for Love

Pandora's Box
Pandora's Box

Doctor Zhivago
Doctor Zhivago