Allein (2004)

The young woman Maria suffers from borderline personality disorder. During the day, she works in the university library on the Essen campus of the University of Duisburg-Essen. At night, the lonely woman goes to clubs and picks up lovers for one-night stands. Afterwards, she either throws them out of her bed or sinks into even deeper psychological lows. She tries to gain control of herself with strong alcoholic drinks and pills, but this only leads her to plunge more uninhibitedly into even more absurd adventures. The only person who knows about her illness is her friend Sarah. Maria longs for a lasting relationship but feels she is not capable of having one. The only lasting relationship she has is with Wolfgang, who exploits her illness for his own perversions. At the library, Maria meets Jan, a young veterinary student doing an internship at Wuppertal Zoo. They are in love, and Maria hopes to build a relationship for the first time, but at the same time fears that her mood swings will destroy it, as they have before. Yet for the first time, she feels something like security. Jan nevertheless has to deal with her mood swings and is confused. He realizes that Maria is having problems and tries to track her down. Maria, however, is afraid to tell Jan the truth for fear of losing him. A short holiday by the sea becomes one of the most wonderful experiences of Maria’s life. When Jan goes to Holland for a week on a study expedition, Maria cannot cope with being alone and lonely again, and she spirals downward once more. She gets in touch with Wolfgang again and spends the night with him. After a night of heavy drinking, she arrives late for work, as she often does, and loses her job. Her friend Sarah takes her in. After returning, Jan again tries to get to the bottom of his girlfriend’s problems, but she runs away from him. After an accident involving a stolen taxi, she wanders through the night. In the morning, Jan finds his distraught girlfriend at her favorite place. Maria is touched because Jan does not give up and apparently is truly serious about her.