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In 1943, while the Allies are bombing Berlin and the Gestapo is purging it of Jews, Lilly Wust (Köhler), a respected mother of four considered to be an exemplar of Nazi motherhood is coping with life alone while her husband Günther (Detlev Buck) is away on the Eastern front. Lilly's maid Ilse (Wokalek) one night introduces her to her lover, Felice Schragenheim (Schrader), a Jew and member of the underground resistance. After a drunken embrace, Felice and Lilly become lovers, re-christening themselves Aimée and Jaguar to help avoid detection. The pair set up home together but their idyll is shattered when Felice's real identity is discovered by the Gestapo and they arrest her.
Years later, still living in Berlin, Lilly Wust told her remarkable story to writer Erica Fischer. The resulting book ("Aimée and Jaguar", a widely translated bestseller) forms the basis for director Färberböck's moving, sensitive, and largely insightful debut feature. Arriving in the UK some two years after it screened to considerable acclaim as the opening film at the Berlin Film Festival, "Aimée and Jaguar" remains rewarding viewing, evocatively re-creating a narrative milieu and war-time Berlin rarely seen on screen.
A veteran from German television, director Färberböck's sometimes heavy-handed style is compensated for by the commitment and subtlety of the two female leads, both of whom scooped Berlin Silver Bear prizes. Schrader is particularly fine, displaying a wearied resignation and tragic heroism as she comes to recognise the inescapable inevitability of her fate.
