21/02/2025 - BERLINALE 2025: Austrian director Marie Luise Lehner sends a young girl on a journey to turn the shame of her origin into a feeling of belonging and pride

Siena Popović and Jessica Paar in If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile (© Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion)

Austrian director Marie Luise Lehner’s feature film debut, If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile, which premiered in the Forum section at the 75th Berlinale, follows twelve-year-old Anna (Siena Popović) who, until now, had never thought too much about her life circumstances. Together with her deaf but independent mother Isolde (Mariya Menner), she shares a roof and a bed on Vienna’s outskirts, in the not-so-well-off district of Floridsdorf. The people she surrounds herself with are the rebellious, fake-brand-wearing teens of the area.

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But this soon all changes when the young girl is transferred to a prestigious inner city school. Class and money seem to rule her daily life now. “Everyone was dressed rather boringly” is her first reaction to her seemingly stuck-up classmates. Still, as soon as she gets back to her home turf, she asks some of her friends to lend her fancy brand knockoffs. Because, in the end, Anna does care about making the right impression.

Lehner then follows her young heroine as she navigates the self-perceived shame of her origin while also learning to stand up for herself. Anna soon starts hanging out with the popular boy in class, Paul (Alessandro Scheibner), much to the dismay of the girls' ring leader Elsa (Charlotte Rohart). She befriends equally unconventional Mara (Jessica Paar) without batting an eye about what that means for her social standing. And yet, all these people have money, an easy gateway to life. 

Anna soon has to learn what it means to be poor when her mother buys her a sofa bed to give her her own space. Partially motivated by the growing pains of her daughter, she also recently met a man and wants her sex life back. But what that also means is that all the money that Anna would have needed to take part in the school ski trip is now spent. “She is sick” is the excuse to keep face, but Anna is confronted with the fear of missing out. 

Lehner carefully shows how struggling with your roots can turn you against them. Isolde may not have a high-paying job, but she is not a victim of her impairment. An unplanned pregnancy does not send her spiralling, but instead makes her put all her cards on the table and consider her options. Anna, however, does try to hide her from her friends when she is wearing “inappropriate clothes” and sends her out of the flat when she is hanging out with Paul. On the other hand, she feels protective of her mother, seeking her approval like any kid would.

Lehner does include some additional stray turns in her narrative. Anna’s statement, for example, that she “doesn’t like Paul, but wants to be like him”, suggests a bubbling gender identity is part of the film's coming-of-age exploration. However, Lehner wisely focuses on the ups and downs of the mother-daughter relationship. At the end of the day, shame is something that is imposed externally on someone. Like her mother or her uncompromising friend Mara, Anna has to learn to stay true to herself.

If You Are Afraid You Put Your Heart into Your Mouth and Smile was produced by Austrian outfit Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion.