Clip - DVD

Film: Young Jasna (Isodora Simijonovic) lives with her family in a dreary suburban settlement in Belgrade. Since her mother spends all her energy on taking care of Jasna's seriously ill father, the schoolgirl feels left all alone with her problems. More and more, the girl takes refuge in a world of parties, alcohol and drugs. When a close relationship develops with her classmate Djole (Vukasin Jasnic), Jasna finally seems to get the attention she lacks from her family. But what began with genuine passion degenerates more and more into degrading sex practices that make it clear to Jasna that Djole sees her as nothing more than an object to be used as he pleases. And so, again, there seems to be no way out of loneliness for her...

Clip is a very uncomfortable, shocking film. Partly because of its very explicit sex scenes, it was even banned in Russia. Certainly, it may be questioned whether such explicit depiction of oral sex and other practices was really imperative to achieve the intensity that the drama exudes. But since most of these scenes are among the moments the viewer sees through the clips Jasna records with her smartphone, the unadulterated and drastic depiction makes perfect sense. For the girl, looking through the cell phone camera is a kind of escape from reality, and for the viewer it is the sad testimony of her lost youth.

The fact that her mother actually sees that something is wrong with her daughter, but lacks the time and strength to pay more attention to Jasna due to her husband's illness, adds a more tragic note to the story. Because actually the girl could be picked up by her family. But her father's illness, the impending loss of a loved one, the disorientation in her own life, and the lack of hope for recovery drag Jasna deeper and deeper into self-destructive behavior. When she takes pictures with her mobile phone at parties, meetings with her friends or during sex, the world there looks colourful, happy, sexy. Happiness and feelings seem to exist here - which is, of course, a complete fallacy.

The acting of the young leading actress, who has, however, been replaced by a body double during the sex scenes with the help of excellent editing techniques, is as stirring as the sober, bitter style of the production, which finds a believable and effective conclusion with a very realistic ending. As a result, however, the film is extremely difficult to stomach; as a viewer, you feel punched right in the stomach over and over again, and you won't be able to shake the heaviness that the drama brings anytime soon, even after it's over. Clip is in many ways a real challenge that really should only be faced by viewers who are used to uncomfortable, drastic arthouse fare. But then this youth drama is also: absolutely worth watching!

Picture + Sound: In the scenes that show Jasna's cell phone videos, there are some visual weak points such as blurring, but they are stylistically so intended and should therefore not be seen as a weakness of the technical implementation. Otherwise, the DVD's clean image impresses with good overall sharpness and a very authentic color scheme. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, while very restrained in many scenes, has an overall very atmospheric effect. Here and there the surround channels come into their own properly alongside the more directionally mixed dialogue. Good!

Extras: The only bonus features on the DVD are trailers.

Conclusion: Clip is extremely tough fare. The film is an uncomfortable and bleak look at the life of a young girl who tries to escape sadness and hopelessness through sex and risks losing herself completely as a result. Tough fare that shocks, and not just because of the drastic sex scenes. An intense challenge that you have to be ready to face. Therefore, only for Arthaus lovers who are not afraid of hard food, absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp