Fish Tank

A teenager torn between her dreams and a lack of perspective – Andrea Arnold’s second feature chronicles an attempt at escape from the stigma of social housing. Wild, raw and authentic.

The 15-year-old Mona is bursting with pent-up and directionless energy: she wants to get out of social housing, get away from her single mother who doesn’t take her seriously, and take off for a new life. That’s why she clutches the flyer advertising an audition with such desperation: she wants to be a dancer. It’s only Connor, her mother’s new boyfriend, who gives her some attention. The Heidelberg-born Irishman Michael Fassbender plays Connor as an unpredictable mix between fatherly care and sleazy chauvinism – he thus invites the projection of all the young woman’s desires. Andrea Arnold’s unvarnished portrait offers insight into the British working class and with ›Fish Tank‹ she once again investigates the value and place of female perspectives in this milieu. The film was awarded the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

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