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Christina (Franka Potente) returns reluctantly to the Gaita family home in Frogmore, after one of her regular absences. Her son Raimond (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is overjoyed to see her, but her husband Romulus (Eric Bana) is less demonstrative. Christina sleeps with Raimond, rather than with her husband.
Curator’s notes
This is the first time we have seen Christina and her absence is never specifically explained, but the actors communicate a great deal. The look on her face after the black car leaves shows us how reluctant she is to walk up the dirt road to the house; Eric Bana’s face tells us that she has perhaps done this several times before. The absences of Christina drive the film’s emotions. She is shown as completely ill-equipped for the life on the farm – but as the film progresses, her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, wherever she is. She is ill-equipped for life in general. It’s a difficult role to make sympathetic, but the German actress Franka Potente (from Run Lola Run) does a superb job of showing us some of what she’s going through, without turning the character into a simple victim.
