My Little Sister is a very moving story about the bond between twin brother and sister, Sven and Lisa, who reunite after Sven is diagnosed with a very aggressive form of leukemia. Lisa, played by Nina Hoss, is a writer who lives in Switzerland. She returns to Berlin to take care of Sven (Lars Eidinger) who is an actor.
Always close – she was born three minutes after her brother, hence the title – the siblings renew their bond with a vengeance upon Lisa’s return home. She cares for him with such tenderness to the exclusion of everyone else, including her husband. Both of them have hit creative roadblocks. A once accomplished writer, she has largely stopped writing, since getting married and having children. Domesticity has stopped the muse in her tracks.
Sven was also an accomplished and successful actor, but work has dried up and one role he was vying for is given to someone else after he becomes ill.
The chemistry between the siblings is very touching and feels very real. Lisa bathes and tends to her very sick brother with exquisite tenderness, as though she could heal him with her loving care. It is a terrific performance from Hoss.
She refuses to accept the reality of how gravely ill her brother is and moves heaven and earth to find an acting role for him to give his life meaning and him something to look forward to. Despite how chronically ill Sven is, there are also laughs and silliness between the siblings, as though they had never really grown up and are still just a pair of silly kids, born minutes apart.
My Little Sister is directed by Stephanie Chaut and Veronique Reymond. It competed for the Golden Bear in Berlin earlier this year. Aside from being eligible for the Golden Globe, it is the official Swiss entry for the and the Oscars.