Film review – “Vena” in the cinema: Against the poisons

Love can be so beautiful. In the first shot of the film we see Jenny and Bolle cuddling on the couch in their living room, exchanging caresses and pondering the name for the child that is growing in Jenny’s belly. Of course, that’s just a facade, nothing is good here; the nervous restlessness that both of them radiate and the greed with which Jenny later sucks on a cigarette do not fit in with the initial idyll. It soon becomes clear what is wrong. It’s withdrawal symptoms that plague them, and it’s only when the longed-for “stone,” as crystal meth is called in the scene, is on the table that evening that they calm down. Both rhythms of life are dictated by addiction, which is not at all compatible with pregnancy.

Between drug addiction and the prison system, there isn’t much room for self-development and rebellion.

»Vena« is the debut film by the young director Chiara Fleischhacker. A striking name that should be remembered, because there are not many filmmakers in this country who tell true-to-life stories from the ground floor of society so skillfully and with emotional depth. Films that address the social conditions and frictions in one’s own country with empathy and a sense of authenticity are traditionally in short supply in Germany. This may have something to do with the fact that most directors, writers and/or actors do not know these frictions firsthand, as they usually come from well-cushioned middle-class backgrounds. This is what the films usually look like; the exceptions that do exist confirm the rule. “Vena” is different, if only because Fleischhacker incorporated her own experiences as a single mother without financial security into the script.

The viewer hardly learns anything about Jenny’s past; except that she already has a son who lives with his grandmother and has apparently clashed with the justice system and the youth welfare office. She will soon have to serve a prison sentence and therefore have to give birth to her baby in prison. Jenny’s relationship with authorities is therefore quite tense. The birth of her first son also seems to have been an experience of violence and heteronomy, as the midwife assigned to her by the youth welfare office finds out and who fights with patience and persistence against Jenny’s rejection and mistrust. Jenny gradually gains confidence, but how can she care for a baby when she can’t even take responsibility for her son? She won’t even be there when he starts school, and given the sadness in the boy’s eyes, you can imagine what emotional deficits will accompany him throughout his life.

Should the baby suffer the same fate? Jenny can’t even manage to get a maternity certificate because her aversion to the physicality of being examined is too strong. The relationship with Bolle (Paul Wollin), who is mostly on assembly anyway, suffers from drug addiction, and withdrawal fails due to the power of the addiction. When she finally sees a doctor, he gives her a clear diagnosis: “The baby is retarded, it cannot grow as it wants because it constantly has to fight against the toxins that flow through its body.”

The filmmaker made a lucky move by casting the main characters. Emma Nova in particular plays Jenny with almost documentary intensity is Jenny. For a while, the author of these lines was convinced that the actress was really pregnant and that the film was shot chronologically, so to speak, that’s how “real” her portrayal seems. It was only through the making-of images that he realized that the pregnant belly was a product of the makeup artists and that the birth scenes were shot with a double.

After the doctor’s clear announcement, Jenny, with the help of Marla, the midwife (Friederike Becht), begins to wake up from her lethargy and fight – for herself, her child, her self-determination, against the drugs. She leaves Bolle to get away from the environment and the temptations of short intoxication. At this point at the latest, »Vena« becomes a portrait of a woman who refuses to accept her seemingly predetermined role as a loser in the social structure. Between drug addiction and the prison system, however, there isn’t much room for self-development and rebellion. Jenny wants to do everything differently and better than before, but how is that supposed to work if she has to go to prison straight away? In the following, Fleischhacker succeeds in providing a true-to-life insight into the world of imprisoned pregnant women and at the same time a gripping description of the inhumanity and brutality of the prison system.

Although there are mother-child places for women in prison, there are far too few of them, and for Jenny, prison turns out to be a dead end in her efforts to be a better mother to her second child. Today, research agrees on how important the impressions not only of the first years of life, but even of the first hours and days, are for the emotional bond between a baby and its mother and thus for successful development. It is all the more incomprehensible that it is apparently still common practice to take the child away from the imprisoned mother during the puerperium and give it to foster parents if there is no mother-child place available. How should resocialization succeed under these circumstances and what burden does this place on the innocent child’s life?

“Vena” has the potential to be a similar success with critics and audiences as Nora Fingscheidt’s social drama “System Sprenger” (2019). This film about a nine-year-old girl and her ordeal between changing foster families and anti-aggression training was also a debut film and had a similar urgency. Should a new generation of young filmmakers manage to overcome the unrealistic nature of German films and create true-to-life cinema, which also includes telling about the harsh social reality in this country? There are a number of signs or films, but with around 150 German films that are released in cinemas every year, they are only highlights that by no means represent German filmmaking. One can only hope that Fleischhacker doesn’t allow himself to be pushed too quickly into the fabricated channels by the egalitarianism of film funding and television editors.

»Vena«, Germany 2024. Director and script: Chiara Fleischhacker. With: Emma Nova, Paul Wollin, Friederike Becht. 116 min. Cinema release: November 28th.