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‘Langue Étrangère’ Review: Two Foreign Exchange Students Fall for One Another in Volatile Teen Drama

In Claire Burger's unsettling drama, Lilith Grasmug and Josefa Heinsius play pen pals who develop a border-crossing, boundary-testing relationship.

Now, this shy, self-questioning and clearly troubled teen is counting on a foreign exchange program to make a fresh start, escaping to Leipzig, Germany, to get away from the mean girls back home in Strasbourg, France. Burger — who showed keen sensitivity toward a pair of young female characters in her exceptional, still undistributed 2018 family drama “Real Love” — recognizes that the generation in question is coming out of a global pandemic. By exploring the cultural differences between a French and German girl — as well as their classmates in both schools — Burger taps into the broader way these neighboring countries relate today, nearly 80 years after World War 2.

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