22 Lengths

Tilda’s days are strictly regimented: studying, working at the supermarket checkout, swimming, looking after her little sister Ida – and on bad days, her mother too. The three of them live in the saddest house on Fröhlichstraße in a small town that Tilda hates. Her friends are long gone, living in Amsterdam or Berlin; only Tilda has stayed. Because someone has to be there for Ida, earn money, take responsibility. There are no fathers to speak of, and her mother is an alcoholic. But one day, things start to change: Tilda is offered the prospect of a PhD in Berlin, and a future that promises freedom begins to take shape. And Viktor shows up. He is the big brother of Ivan, Tilda’s boyfriend who died five years earlier, who – just like her – always swims 22 laps. But just when Tilda is starting to believe that everything might turn out alright, the situation at home spirals out of control.