Paradise: Love/Faith/Hope (German, DVD)

Director Ulrich Seidl's triptych of tales about three women from the same family. In 'Paradise: Love' (2012), after heading off to Kenya to soak up some sun, overweight 50-year-old Austrian Teresa (Margarete Tiesel) meets up with a group of like-minded middle-aged women, who waste no time in alerting her to the delights offered up by the young black beach boys who sell gifts, and themselves, to the white European female tourists. Initially hesitant about becoming involved, the love-starved Teresa changes her mind when she finds herself falling for the charms of Munga (Peter Kuzungu). In 'Paradise: Faith' (2012), choosing not to go away on holiday, middle-aged Austrian health worker Annamaria (Maria Hofstätter) decides instead to spend her downtime touring Vienna's less salubrious districts, Jesus statue in hand, offering door-to-door salvation to those who will listen. A fanatical Catholic, Annamaria's regular routine is suddenly upset by the unexpected return of her estranged husband Nabil (Nabil Saleh), a wheelchair-bound Muslim. Although Annamaria is initially content to resume her role as the good wife, Nabil's incessant attacks on her faith, allied with his continued demands for his marital rights, conspire to push her towards the edge...Finally, in 'Paradise: Hope' (2013), while her mother and aunt indulge themselves on their own holidays, overweight 13-year-old Melanie (Melanie Lenz) is sent off to a diet camp in the Austrian mountains for the summer. Over the coming weeks, as she successfully avoids the regimens of the camp's fitness trainers, Melanie's pubescent curiosity is slowly awakened by the tales of her new dorm mate Verena (Verena Lehbauer)'s sexual adventures, and her infatuation with Arzt (Joseph Lorenz), the camp's 50-something doctor.