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Import/Export

Play trailer Poster for Import/Export 2007 2h 15m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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84% Tomatometer 32 Reviews 76% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a single mother whose low-paying hospital nursing job isn't enough to support her baby. With few options in her small Ukrainian town, she starts working as a nude model and soon finds herself in increasingly desperate situations. Thousands of miles away, Pauli (Paul Hofmann), who has just lost his job as a mall security guard, begins working with his sleazy stepfather. As they travel to Austria, Pauli grows distant and searches for a way out.
Import/Export

What to Know

Critics 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.

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Critics Reviews

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V.A. Musetto New York Post 07/31/2009
3/4
The mood is as dismal as the weather in Import/Export, by Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl. Go to Full Review
Manohla Dargis New York Times 07/31/2009
4.5/5
Ulrich Seidl's Import Export is an unflinching, at times almost unbearably hard yet moral look at human exploitation. Go to Full Review
Keith Uhlich Time Out 07/30/2009
4/5
Import Export demands we contemplate the horror and the beauty of existence in equal measure. Go to Full Review
Christoph Huber Cinema Scope 10/09/2017
... fierce humanism in the face of a world shaped by market logic and humiliation. Go to Full Review
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid 02/05/2010
3/4
Import Export adds the welcome element of humanity to stand between the cruelty and humor. Go to Full Review
Robin Clifford Reeling Reviews 01/21/2010
B+
There is never a moment telegraphed in the story...keeping me interested and attentive throughout its 2 hour runtime. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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05/29/2016 So depressing, it actually makes you feel happier about your life... See more 09/22/2013 Ulrich Seidl got an eye to capture the drama of the real world, the struggle to live of the young and the old. See more 07/30/2013 It's good that people as Ulrich Seidl exist so there is someone who can remind us what no one seems to realize anymore - the world of sunny careless holidays and fancy stores is not really the world we are living in. The reality as it really looks like is shown in his movies. See more 07/25/2013 A bleak, uncompromising and ultimately very depressing social drama which may be hard to stomach, but even harder to turn away from. See more 08/06/2012 Elocuente, con un estilo propio y perturbador. See more 04/24/2012 From Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, and nominated for the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2007, this is a dark, unsettling drama that has the tone and structure of a horror film, but it shows two parallel stories of people unsatisfied in their lives and how moving on can have polarising consequences. It's dark, quite graphic both in terms of sex and violence, but it's very compelling. It begins in Eastern Ukraine, in a slum hung over from the Soviet era, where nurse Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is unsatisfied in her life, and she doesn't get paid enough as a nurse, being diddled out of pay. So, she turns to internet porn, which is horrible. So, she packs up, and moves out to Vienna, where she gets a job as a cleaner in a hospital, where she falls for senile, geriatric patient Erich Schlager (Erich Finches). Meanwhile in Vienna, hot-headed Pauli trains to be a security guard, but is sacked when he's mugged by Turkish drunkards, penniless, and owing money to his stepfather Michael (Michael Thomas), but they get a job in delivering old videogame machines to the Ukraine, where Pauli's attempt at hiring a prostitute end up with him on his own in the snowy wilderness. It's a dark drama, but very compelling and painting a picture of a world in the Ukraine which is seldom seen on film, but it's showing a real plight many people face when they think moving to another country can hide the fact that they made a hash of things in their homeland. It's almost like a Ken Loach film, only more bleaker, and it's still uncertain by the end if things get better or worse. See more Read all reviews
Import/Export

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Movie Info

Synopsis Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a single mother whose low-paying hospital nursing job isn't enough to support her baby. With few options in her small Ukrainian town, she starts working as a nude model and soon finds herself in increasingly desperate situations. Thousands of miles away, Pauli (Paul Hofmann), who has just lost his job as a mall security guard, begins working with his sleazy stepfather. As they travel to Austria, Pauli grows distant and searches for a way out.
Director
Ulrich Seidl
Screenwriter
Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Oct 31, 2014
Runtime
2h 15m