Höhenfeuer

Fredi M Murer : 1985
Alpine Fire

On a remote Swiss mountainside, a family live almost entirely disconnected from the modern world. An implacable, untamed environment of austere beauty, yet one which can also be constrictive and claustrophobic. The older couple have two children, a daughter Belli, who aspires to become a teacher, and a younger son Franzi, a child-like deaf-mute who helps his father on the farm. Belli, a loving elder sister, is the only one who understands the boy. She teaches her brother to read and write, and comforts him when he's angry. But Franzi's inability to communicate leads him to often violent frustration in his work. When he wrecks an expensive mower in a fit of anger, he is banished to the outskirts of the farm. In the deserted cabin which Franzi now occupies, Belli visits and brings him food. Alone together, the emotional and physical closeness they share is intensified and before long they become lovers. By winter, the boy is back in the house and Belli is pregnant. Soon she must confront her parents. This tragic and hauntingly beautiful film won the Golden Leopard at Locarno Film Festival 1985.