AllMovie

A wife and mother fleeing a violent relationship find that not everyone believes in her new independence in this drama from Germany. Umay (Sibel Kekilli) is a woman in her mid-twenties from Turkey whose husband, Kemal (Ufuk Bayraktar), is physically abusive to her and verbally lashes out at their young son, Cem (Nizam Schiller). Fearing for her safety and her child's future, Umay walks away from her marriage and leaves for Germany (where her family lives) with Cem in tow. Umay's mother, Halime (Derya Alabora), is warily supportive and her younger siblings stand up for her, but her father, Kade (Settar Tanriogen), and older brother, Mehmet (Tamer Yigit), both insist the man is the head of the household and Umay's actions reflect poorly on the family. Kade and Mehmet conspire to kidnap Cem and return him to his father, and on the advice of the authorities Umay moves into a safe house for abused women. While Umay is allowed to live freely in her new home, it also means cutting off relations with her family, and even as she finds a job and makes new friends, she struggles to mend her relationship with her parents, especially after learning that her decisions have caused her father to call off her sister's prospective marriage. Die Fremde (aka When We Leave) was the first feature film from actress-turned-director Feo Aladag.