At the starting point of The Good Sister, in theaters on September 2, 2026, there is this reflection from the young German director Sarah Miro Fischer: "Why do I know so many victims of sexual abuse and so few perpetrators of these acts?". The extent of sexual violence is revealed little by little as words become available and leaves a gaping hole of questioning about the way in which society reacts to these acts once revealed. For a long time, burying one's head in the sand was enough, but the generation of young adults filmed in this first feature film is learning to speak and consider these acts head-on.
The attackers, the vast majority of whom are men, are fathers, uncles, friends… And in the specific case of The Good Sister, a brother. What should we do when someone we love and respect turns out to be a perpetrator of violence? This is the thorny, yet universal, question posed by director Sarah Miro Fischer and her co-writer Agnes Maagaard Petersen.
Rose is a young Berliner in her late twenties, on the verge of her thirties. After separating from her partner, she moves in with her brother, Sami. Rose admires her eldest, chef, good partner, independent and loved by her friends, adored by her mother.
Forced to sleep on Sami's couch, Rose is awakened one evening by noises in her brother's room, obviously in the company of a woman. Rose tries as best she can to muffle the noises of the antics behind the wall, but does not succeed. A few days later, she received a summons to the police station: a complaint for rape had been filed against her brother. Rose must bear her testimony in a great internal moral conflict. Protect your brother or help the victim?
In Rose's eyes
The Good Sister is above all the portrait of Rose, this young girl tormented by the vagaries of modern youth: her job, her heartbreaks, her encounters, finding her way... It is by defining her with finesse - and in a very short time, 1h30 - that Sarah Miro Fischer manages to make her internal tears very explicit.
This moral dilemma is conveyed by the extremely organic and spontaneous performance of actress Marie Bloching, in her first leading role on the big screen. In a way, this can be frustrating: on such a current and universal subject, we would like to have more answers, to dig deeper into the subject, to have other perspectives. But this bias of only seeing the situation through Rose's eyes is maintained from start to finish. What emerges is a very clear message from the director, herself having been a victim of sexual violence: there is no single way to react to this situation. Rose ends up holding on to her courage.
Intimate and immersive
It is through a very intimate and naturalistic staging that Sarah Miro Fischer brings us closer to Rose, her body, her face, her looks and her micro-expressions, making her winding path of thought more and more accessible. The surrounding sounds are omnipresent in certain scenes, extremely detailed, sometimes disturbing.
Everything is immersive in The Good Sister, to the rhythm of real life. Alternating scenes of great luminous softness and cold austerity, with a great sense of detail in the staging, here is a very mastered first film, both in substance and in form.
The sheet
