Die Mutprobe (2010)

Sabine works as a family court judge in Vienna, but has no family of her own. One day, she receives an invitation to a school reunion from Leonhardt, her first great love. Twenty years later, their former classmates gather in Steinbach an der Steyr. She meets Mia, who has been unemployed for a long time, and sees Ferdinand again, who is now the town’s mayor. He tells her that Karin, her best friend from school, has moved away and therefore could not come. Her youthful love, Leonhardt, is also absent from the reunion. Ferdinand receives a call from Leonhardt: his daughter Lena, who is just entering puberty, has not come home after a tutoring session with Dr. Körbler, a retired teacher. At first, everyone thinks Lena is running late or out with her friends. But as time passes, Leonhardt and his Greek wife, Sofia, grow increasingly desperate. Eventually, the police organize a search for Lena, but she remains missing. They find only her bicycle, hidden in a thicket near the Steyr River. Using his extensive connections, Körbler brings an Austrian Armed Forces unit to Steinbach, and it joins the search with helicopter support. When Sabine visits her mother’s grave in the cemetery, she comes across the new grave of her school friend. She confronts Ferdinand, who admits that Karin died by suicide. This brings back painful memories for Sabine. She confesses to Leonhardt that Dr. Körbler abused her. She and her friend Karin had to pose naked in front of him. That was also why she could not enter into a relationship with Leonhardt. Körbler is well liked in the village. He works for the community. For years, he has cared for his wealthy wife, who has been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a stroke. All the women in town whom Körbler indecently touched and photographed pornographically as children remain silent about what happened. Sabine anonymously sends Leonhardt and Sofia a note warning them that Körbler is a pedophile. At the drugstore, she takes the developed photographs intended for Körbler, which show Lena and other girls at the swimming pool. But without concrete, substantial evidence, the police have their hands tied. Lena is found alive in the woods. Her friends had dared her to spend three days in a dark, locked cellar. Her questioning yields no indication that Körbler had molested her or her friends. Mayor Ferdinand now wants all rumors about Körbler to end and bluntly tells Sabine to leave town. Meier, the village’s newly appointed police officer, nevertheless tries to get to the truth and questions Melanie, who works as a cleaner in the Körbler household. She too was abused by Körbler as a child. While cleaning, she found one of the nude photographs Körbler had taken of Sabine and Karin as young girls. She also remains silent when questioned by the police, but places the nude photo in Sabine’s car before Sabine is about to drive back to Vienna. When Sabine finds the photo in her car, she turns around and immediately returns to Steinbach. While the villagers celebrate Lena’s rescue at the inn, Sabine enters Körbler’s house. In the cellar, she finds a photo lab and folders full of child pornography, sorted by the girls’ names. Sabine puts the folders in a garbage bag and is about to leave the house with them when Mia suddenly appears and tries to stop her. Mia wants to prevent the photos from causing a scandal, because Körbler has promised the community a substantial sum of money after his wife’s death—a sum that would also secure Mia a job. During a scuffle on the stairs, Sabine pushes Mia, who is injured and left lying in the cellar. Meanwhile, Dr. Körbler returns home and finds Sabine and his wife there. During the event at the inn, Körbler had noticed that his heart pills were missing. He now searches for them in the house but cannot find any. Sabine accuses him of stealing her youth, but Körbler shows no understanding. He says he paid Sabine for the photos back then, so she has no right to take them from him. In the middle of their conversation, Körbler collapses and dies. Sabine reaches for the phone, but hesitates after Körbler’s wife gives her a clear look, and calls emergency services only after he has died. Meanwhile, Melanie flushes all of Körbler’s heart pills, which she had taken, down a sink drain. The police officially conclude that Körbler died of natural causes, from heart failure. Meier does not pursue the suspicion of failure to render assistance raised by his colleague. Instead, he reminds him of his improper conduct during the investigation into Lena’s disappearance, which had been the result of the mayor’s interference. In the end, Meier visits Sabine, who is burning all the nude photos from Körbler’s cellar on a gravel bar by the river. Sabine tells Meier that she has done everything she could to face her past. Now she must try to cope with the severe psychological shock that is still affecting her. Meier wishes her strength for the future.