Fucking Berlin (2016)

Sonia is a fun-loving student in her early twenties who lives in Berlin. She studies mathematics at Freie Universität and gets by with part-time jobs. In the evenings, she goes out in Berlin’s club scene, where she has several one-night stands, including one with Milan, a bartender. One day, in Mauerpark, Sonia meets Ladja, a young man of Polish descent who lives an unconventional, carefree life. They spend a lot of time together, and Ladja moves in with her, but little by little they run short of money for living expenses, drugs, and parties. Sonia loses her job as a waitress, and Ladja admits that he used to earn money working the streets. Finding a job proves difficult, and Sonia eventually finds work as a webcam girl. The couple gradually drift apart because she spends a lot of time at her new job—supposedly at a call center—and on her studies. When her boss no longer allows her to study alongside her work, Sonia quits and responds to an ad placed by Anja. Anja runs a brothel called the “Oase” in an apartment block at Kottbusser Tor, where Sonia starts working as a prostitute. Alongside her new job, where she goes by Mascha, and the rekindling of her relationship with Ladja, her studies begin to suffer. The other prostitutes become like family to Sonia, but after a while Anja sells the brothel because business is poor. Sonia then experiences the darker side of her work: violent clients and pangs of conscience over her double life. After Ladja and Sonia encounter a client on the street, Ladja begins to suspect Sonia’s secret and, after a party at Milan’s bar, locks her out of their shared apartment. Sonia spends a romantic night with Milan, whom she has met several times before. He pays her a great deal of money because he loves her and wants to give her a life without prostitution. Sonia’s fellow student and supposed best friend, Jule, is jealous and reveals Sonia’s secret at the university. Sonia’s former employer takes over the “Oase,” reopens it under a new name, and turns it into a walk-in brothel. The conditions deteriorate rapidly, forcing Sonia (alias Mascha) to accept every client. When Ladja shows up at her workplace, he sees that Sonia is working as a prostitute. He leaves her, and Sonia realizes that she has crossed her own boundaries in life. Milan’s wife, with whom he already has a daughter, is pregnant again. Sonia also takes a pregnancy test, which comes back positive. Who the father is remains unknown.