Miscellaneous The feature film "Milchzähne" takes us deep into the dystopian forest
Sophia Bösch's debut "Milk Teeth" is based on a novel. A mystery drama with weaknesses - and moments of green-grey light.
12.06.2025, 06:30
SDA
Who stole the cattle? Was it the girl who suddenly appears in the forest, was it wild creatures, was it a villager? Skalde and her mother suddenly have to stick together - after years of estrangement - and take care of the intruder together.
"Milk Teeth" is set in an indeterminate future in which the world is a withered place ruled by resentment and mistrust. Fear and superstition rule the isolated community, which has apparently survived some kind of apocalypse.
When Skalde, who has integrated into the village more badly than well, takes in the girl, all hell breaks loose. Is it true what the little girl, Meisis, says: "I'm not a girl. I am a wolf"? Should we believe the old stories that say that wolves want to mingle with humans? Wolf children have no milk teeth. Meisis has some. But maybe not.
In her feature film debut, Swiss-Swedish-German director Sophia Bösch takes on the dystopian first novel by young German writer Helene Bukowski. The hopeless but occasionally warm mood of the bestseller is reflected in Bösch's film in shades of green-grey: in the rags worn after the apocalypse that is hinted at and in the piles of books that can be seen in Skalde's house.
Supporting acting performances
The somewhat bumpy dialog, which explains little and does more to maintain the suspense than anything else, is fortunately carried by the acting performances of the two protagonists: Mathilde Bundschuh as the scalde knows how to defuse situations that could easily drift into kitsch. Susanne Wolff is at her strongest as the outsider Edith and Skalde's mother. You believe her that the dogs flock around her without her having to do much. You believe that she - just like her daughter - has a heart in a world where there is not much to laugh about.
"Milk Teeth", which can now be seen in cinemas in German-speaking Switzerland, is set "at a time not too far removed from our own", according to the synopsis. It is a bleak, cheerless future. Those who can deal with it will feel at home in this movie; everyone else will have to contend with an unease that will linger for a long time.*
*This text by Nina Kobelt, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
