LenaLove (2016)

Sixteen-year-old Lena lives with her single mother, Pia, in a suburban housing estate. Her former best friend Nicole lives directly across the street with her parents: Judith, an author of self-help books for couples, and Axel, a dance instructor. Pia and Axel are having an affair, and Lena knows about it. Stella has now taken over the role of Nicole’s best friend, and the two make this very clear on social media. Stella often badmouths Lena, who withdraws more and more and immerses herself in social networks. There, she receives comfort and encouragement from someone called Noah. Meanwhile, at school Lena befriends Tim, a fellow student who is artistically gifted but involved in petty crime. Just as a romance begins to develop between them, Lena catches Tim kissing Nicole at a party, after Stella has set them up. Lena is furious and feels used. In her anger, she burns an assignment she had written for Nicole to improve her school grades. She also removes Nicole from her friends list. The next day at school, the police stop and arrest Tim for possession of drugs. Stella and Nicole seem convinced that Lena had earlier snitched on him to the principal. Lena confides in Noah again, telling him that Nicole is a snake and that her father is sleeping with Lena’s mother. Judith stares at her phone in horror. She is Noah, and through her chat with Lena she finds out that she is being cheated on. This has further repercussions: she advises her friend Claudia to leave her husband, Bernd, which in turn threatens Axel’s Dream Team’s important dance competition, since Bernd and Claudia were both supposed to compete. Lena changes her account name to LenaLove and gives it a seductive, provocative photo. Noah contacts her again. But this time it is not Judith behind the account, but her daughter Nicole and Stella, who found the login details. They now play a cruel game with Lena, persuade Tim to join in, and have him pose as Noah. But Tim is not keen on the two girls’ games and leaves the house. At school, he tells them to delete Noah’s profile, but Stella has him under her thumb because she has video footage of Tim selling drugs at the party. Lena tries to make things more or less right with Nicole again. But when Nicole learns that Lena will fill in for Claudia at the dance competition and dance with Bernd, she feels hurt. The dance competition is about to begin, and everyone is tense. In the changing room, Nicole secretly slips sugar cubes into Lena’s thermos. Stella had previously dripped a substance onto them. While dancing, Lena suddenly begins to have terrifying hallucinations and collapses. Stella films everything and immediately posts it online. Because they miss the final, Axel says he will no longer plan to dance with Bernd next season. Later, still suffering from hallucinations, Lena receives a link from Noah to the dance video, posted on a site titled World of Shame. It is flooded with hateful comments, and Lena is on the verge of a breakdown. But Stella wants to go even further. They make it look as though Noah wants to meet Lena, while using a fake Lena account to arrange a date with a man through a dating site so they can film it too. The man corners Lena, but she manages to break free and runs off into the night. Because of her hallucinations, she falls into the water at a weir. Her phone is found, but Lena is missing. When the families involved find out what has happened, Nicole comes clean to her parents and tells them about the continued use of the Noah account and what she and Stella have done. Axel wants to go to the police, but Judith sees her career as an author being threatened if the story reaches the media. The word “Noah” has been scrawled on the homes of both Nicole’s and Stella’s families. Tim visits Stella and pretends he has deleted everything. While there, he steals her phone and takes it to the caravan where he lives. The audience now learns that Tim pulled the delusional Lena out of the water and has been looking after her there. They plan to go to Lena’s mother later. Meanwhile, Axel and Nicole have gone to the police after all. That evening, the family sits together at the table, reconciled. Through the panoramic window, they see the headlights of a van; a moment later, it crashes into the house. A fire breaks out. Lena and Tim hear the crash and manage to rescue the family from the house. The van’s driver was Bernd. When the police arrive, still looking for Tim in connection with Lena’s disappearance, the two flee. Stella walks across the schoolyard and sees an enormous mural on one of the buildings. It shows her in the clutches of creatures. All the other students have just received videos on their phones exposing Stella’s misdeeds. Tim must have taken them from her phone and sent them. The final scene shows Lena and Tim embracing as they enjoy the view from above the city rooftops.