AllMovie

Life in exile can be devastating, as this convincing made-for-TV drama illustrates. Both Margot (Angela Leiberg) and her daughter Jeannette (Ilona Lewanowski) leave East Berlin to go live across the border in West Berlin. This unusual permission was granted after Margot got out of prison for attempting to escape to the West, and put in a second, legal request to leave. Once she and the 16-year-old Jeannette get settled into a subsidized apartment they soon discover that the idealized life they expected here is just not going to materialize. Margot goes from one bad job to the next and spends all her time listening to East German radio. Jeannette spends her time writing to her boyfriend back home and rebels when her mother takes up with a no-good previous lover. Unless something or someone comes along to help these two out, their futures seem destined to be maladjusted and lonely.