Little Paris (2008)

Baden-Württemberg, 2007. Thanks to the replica of the Eiffel Tower on the roof of the local factory, the small town is also called “Little Paris.” Twenty-three-year-old Luna works at the factory and, after her mother’s death, is raised by her unconventional aunt Pat. In her spare time, Luna volunteers teaching dance to children and dreams of becoming a dancer. A dance competition offering a role in a music video as its prize brings “big-city” dancers and dance styles to the small town. There, Luna meets G, a dancer passing through who will become her trainer. G encourages her to enter the competition and fundamentally change her life. Luna breaks up with her boyfriend Ron and leaves her home and family—her aunt Pat and her friends Eve and Barbie. She leaves “Little Paris” and goes to Berlin with G. There, she takes part in the dance competition’s final, which she loses. Luna’s walk of fame ends in New York. Luna bridges the gap between her imagined world and reality by making her dream of a dance career come true. Her friend Eve achieves this by resisting the temptation that G and the competition bring to her structured life, and accepting a small-town, “simple” family life with Stefan. Their mutual friend Barbie, who works evenings at a swingers’ club and days at an ice-cream parlor, is the film’s tragic figure. Unable either to realize her wish to build a life with her great love, Wassily, or to accept reality, Barbie takes her own life.