‘My Little Sister’ Review: Sibling Dependency
#masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCritic’s Pick‘My Little Sister’ Review: Sibling DependencyA cancer diagnosis only strengthens the bond between adult twins in this perceptive Swiss drama.Nina Hoss in “My Little Sister.”Credit…Film MovementJan. 14, 2021, 7:00 a.m. ETMy Little SisterNYT Critic’s PickDirected by Stéphanie Chuat, Véronique ReymondDrama1h 39mFind TicketsWhen you purchase a ticket for an independently reviewed film through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.“My Little Sister,” a tender domestic drama from the Swiss writers and directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond, faces terminal illness with a refreshing emotional candor.Lisa (Nina Hoss), a gifted Berlin playwright, stopped writing on the day that her beloved twin brother, Sven (Lars Eidinger), a celebrated theater actor, received his leukemia diagnosis. Since then, she’s been living in artistic limbo in Switzerland, where her husband (Jens Albinus) teaches at a prestigious boarding school. But the demands of Sven’s illness, and Lisa’s inability to accept his decline, only tug her closer to her brother and further from her fracturing marriage.[embedded content]Distinguished by a modestly discreet directing style that allows the actors to shine, “My Little Sister” offers neither false uplift nor dreary realism. The photography is bright and lustrous, the tone vital and purposeful. Eidinger plays Sven entirely without self-pity, a man furiously seizing public-restroom sex as if willing his depleted body to perform. And Hoss makes Lisa a ball of anxious industry, her denial and distress keeping her in constant motion. Both siblings, more than anything, want Sven back onstage; they have always been each other’s muse.Absolving the film of any shred of sentimentality, the indispensable Marthe Keller, as the twins’ testy mother, delivers her sometimes shockingly unfiltered remarks with a pique that softens their cruelty. Small in scale and big in heart, “My Little Sister” believes unwaveringly in the palliative power of art: When medicine can’t heal you, sometimes words can fill the breach.My Little SisterNot rated. In German and French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 39 minutes. Watch on Film Movement.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More
