Ich gehöre ihm (2017)

Fifteen-year-old Caro lives with her parents and younger sister in comfortable, middle-class circumstances in a single-family home. Caro falls in love with 19-year-old Cem. He drives an expensive sports car and gives her expensive presents. At first, Cem pretends to be madly in love with Caro and enters into a relationship with her only for show. He calls her Princess and says things like, “Your eyes—amazing,” and “He has fallen in love like never before. She is his everything, and he wants to share his life with her.” He even buys an apartment for the two of them. Right after Caro has sex with Cem for the first time, two of Cem’s friends rape her. After the rape, Cem assures Caro that it will never happen again. Cem gives the impression that he is short of money. As a “proof of love,” he demands that Caro prostitute herself to bring in money. Caro now goes to school during the day and works the streets in the afternoon. In the evening, she is home in time for dinner. At first she sees clients in an apartment; later, she works on the street. She has to do whatever the clients want, whether anal sex or having sex with two men at once. If Caro refuses, Cem makes sure she keeps working as a prostitute through flattery, blackmail, drugs, and beatings. Cem says things like, “I don’t really want this. I love you, after all.” At first, her parents notice nothing. When they happen to meet Cem, they even find him likeable. Caro begins to change. She changes her style of dress and starts smoking and drinking. Caro becomes increasingly isolated from her family and friends. On the street, her physical education teacher, Mr. Yildirim, happens to recognize her. He speaks to Caro about what is going on and offers to help. Caro does not accept his offer. Shortly afterward, Cem threatens and beats Yildirim so that he will keep quiet. Caro’s mother, a nurse, treats Yildirim in the hospital, and he says nothing about the reason for his injuries. When Caro finds another girl in the apartment she shares with Cem, and hears him telling her exactly the same things—“Your eyes—amazing,” and so on—Caro is horrified. She just wants to get away and confronts Cem. Cems’s friends rape her again. Afterward, she is locked in. When she appears to give in and agrees to work the streets again, she manages to escape. She returns home, but does not report Cem to the police. A police psychologist cannot persuade Caro to change her mind either. A police officer at the station, who was one of her clients, also signals to her that she should keep quiet. When Caro goes to practice with the school basketball team, several girls conspicuously whisper among themselves. Caro asks her best friend whether she has told anyone else. Her friend says she only told one friend. Horrified, Caro runs out of the gym. Her utterly desperate parents want to have their daughter admitted to a psychiatric clinic to protect her from Cem and keep her away from him. But Caro does not want to be locked up. She sneaks out of her room and, at the end of the film, gets into Cem’s car.