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
Piotr Łysak
Armin Mueller-Stahl
Ralf Wolter
Daniel Olbrychski
Bernhard Wicki
Gérard Desarthe
Elisabeth Trissenaar
Sigfrit Steiner
Erika Wackernagel
Ben Becker
Otto Sander
Friedrich G. Beckhaus
Gernot Duda
Serge Merlin
Thomas Ringelmann
Heidi Joschko
Ilse Bahrs
Marie-Hélène Dasté
Marie-Christine Barrault
Jürgen Born
Dieter Kursawe
Ellen Esser
Christoph Beyertt
Evelyn Meyka
Herbert Weißbach
Gudrun Geier