The Longing (2002)

It is set in a dreary village in the SchwabianFrankish Forest where the seemingly reserved Lena lives with her tyrant of a husband Johannes in a loveless marriage Johannes is the villages spiritual leader and Lena is his faithful everreadytoserve wife Lenas daily life is characterized by grinding monotony a life narrowly circumscribed by nursing organ playing and the duties of the marriage bed The mysterious murder of a village girl suddenly knocks this humdrum existence off its tracks In the wake of these events Lena discovers the affection and tenderness for which she has always longed in Paul the village mechanic This encounter is the start of an emancipation that leads her not to reveal Pauls secret regarding the girls murder for fear of losing her newly won piece of happiness In turn it means she has to remain silent as she has always done in her many years of marriage So it is that this love ultimately turns Lena herself into a fallen angel