''Import/Export'' is an Austrian drama film by the director

Ulrich Seidl Ulrich Maria Seidl (born 24 November 1952) is an Austrian film director, writer and producer. Among other awards, his film ''Dog Days'' won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice in 2001. His 2012 film '' Paradise: Love'' competed for the Palme d'Or at ...

from 2007. It was nominated for the

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

at the

2007 Cannes Film Festival The 60th Cannes Film Festival was held from 16 to 27 May 2007. British filmmaker Stephen Frears served as jury president for the main competition. Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or for the drama film ''4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 ...

and won the Grand Prix - Golden Apricot reward at the

Yerevan International Film Festival The ''Golden Apricot'' Yerevan International Film Festival (GAIFF; ) is an annual film festival held in Yerevan, Armenia. The festival was founded in 2004 with the co-operation of the "Golden Apricot" Fund for Cinema Development, the Armenian A ...

. The film was shot in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

from 2005 until May 2007 on 16mm film. Simultaneously, the film follows a nurse from

searching for a better life in the West and an unemployed security guard from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

heading East for the same reason.

Plot

Olga is a Ukrainian woman from

Eastern Ukraine Eastern Ukraine or East Ukraine (; ) is primarily the territory of Ukraine east of the Dnipro (or Dnieper) river, particularly Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts (provinces). Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts are often also regarded as ...

, who lives with her mother and has a child. Her job as a

nurse Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

does not pay well enough for her to support herself and her baby, and she gets a second job doing

internet pornography Internet pornography or online pornography is any pornography that is accessible over the Internet; primarily via websites, FTP connections, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups. The greater accessibility of the World Wide Web from t ...

. She eventually leaves her homeland and travels to

where she finds a job as a housekeeper at a rich family's home, where she also lives. The woman of the family suspects her of stealing and sacks her. She is then employed as a cleaner at a geriatric hospital. She develops a relationship with an elderly man named Erich and he asks her to marry him. She accepts as she knows this will gain her Austrian citizenship. However, Erich dies of a heart attack before they can marry. Pauli is a young man from

who lives with his mother and stepfather. He owns a large dog named Caeser and trains in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

. He works as a

security guard A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, factory guard, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) ...

at a shopping complex but is sacked after a gang of drunken

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

cuff him with his handcuffs and strip him of his clothes. His girlfriend breaks up with him as she is afraid of his dog, and he owes money to a number of people including his stepfather, Michael. Michael then takes him along on a job in

setting up video gambling machines. On the way there, they stop at an impoverished Roma Gypsy neighbourhood in

Košice Košice is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of approximately 230,000, Košice is the second-largest cit ...

where Pauli tries to 'hire' a

prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...

. He fails to agree on a price with the Roma

pimp Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" ...

s, and they chase him back to his van. When they arrive in

Uzhhorod Uzhhorod (, ; , ; , ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Uzh, Uzh River in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. The city is approximately equidistan ...

, Ukraine, they rent a hotel room and try to pick up girls at a bar. When Pauli goes back to his room to borrow money from Michael to pay his tab, he finds that Michael has a prostitute. Michael insists Pauli watches him humiliate the prostitute before he can leave. The next day, Pauli leaves Michael's company and searches for work at a local market, where he fails to find any. The last we see of him is when he is walking along a long country road,

hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Signaling ...

, either back to the West or further into Ukraine.

Cast

* Ekateryna Rak: Olga * Paul Hofmann: Pauli *

Michael Thomas Michael or Mike Thomas may refer to: Entertainment * Michael M. Thomas (1936–2021), American novelist of financial thrillers * Michael Tilson Thomas (born 1944), American conductor, pianist, and composer * Michael Thomas (actor) (1952–2019), B ...

: Michael, Pauli's stepfather * Natalja Baranova: Olga's friend (Ukraine) * Natalja Epuraneu: Olga's friend (Vienna) *

Maria Hofstätter Maria Hofstätter (born 30 March 1964) is an Austrian actress. She has appeared in more than thirty films since 1993. Career Hofstätter was born in Upper Austria, on 30 March 1964. She did not attend acting school and first appeared on stage fo ...

: Sister Maria * Georg Friedrich: Orderly Andi *

Erich Finches The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

: Erich Schlager *

Dirk Stermann Stermann & Grissemann are an Austrian German comedy duo comprising Dirk Stermann and Christoph Grissemann. Background Dirk Stermann Dirk Stermann (born 7 December 1965 in Duisburg) hails from Germany and is a German radio and television prese ...

: Assessment trainer

Reception

The film received favourable reviews from critics, on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the film has an acceptance score of 84% with an average rating of 6.90/10 based on 32 reviews, with the critical consensus “A grim and disturbing vision from Ulrich Seidl, makes for an uncomfortable and uncompromising picture of life, that is anything but comfy and pedestrian.”

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Import Export 2007 films 2007 independent films Austrian independent films Films set in Austria Films set in Ukraine Films set in Slovakia Films directed by Ulrich Seidl 2000s German-language films 2000s Russian-language films Films shot in Slovakia Slovak-language films Films shot in the Czech Republic Erotic drama films