Import/Export 2006

Import/Export

Critics Consensus

A grim and disturbing vision from Ulrich Seidl, makes for an uncomfortable and uncompromising picture of life, that is anything but comfy and pedestrian.

84%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 32

76%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1,628
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Import/Export Photos

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Movie Info

Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a single mother whose low-paying hospital nursing job isn't enough to support her baby. With few options in her small Ukrainian town, she starts working as a nude model and soon finds herself in increasingly desperate situations. Thousands of miles away, Pauli (Paul Hofmann), who has just lost his job as a mall security guard, begins working with his sleazy stepfather. As they travel to Austria, Pauli grows distant and searches for a way out.
  • Genre:
    drama
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Ulrich Seidl
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Runtime:

Cast

Ekateryna Rak
as Olga
Paul Hoffman
Paul Hofmann
as Paul
Michael Thomas
as Michael
Maria Hofstätter
as Sister Maria
Georg Friedrich
as Nurse Andi
Petra Morzé
as Mother in family home
Natalya Baranova
as Christina (Olga's Friend in the UK)
Natalia Epureanu
as Nataschka
Erich Finsches
as Erich Schlager
Lidiya Oleksandrivna Savka
as Olga's mother
Dmytro Andriyov Gachkov
as Olga's Brother
Dmytro Andriyovich Gachkov
as Olga's brother
Oksana Ivaniva Skylarenko
as Olga's baby
Christina York
as Christina (Paul's girlfriend)
Brigitte Kren
as Paul's mother
View All

News & Interviews for Import/Export

Critics Consensus: Orphan Is Mixed Bag
UK Critics Consensus: How To Lose Friends & Alienate People Does Just That; Whilst Brideshead Revisited Is Resisted
View All

Critic Reviews for Import/Export

All Critics (32) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (5)

  • The mood is as dismal as the weather in Import/Export, by Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl.

    July 31, 2009 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…

    V.A. Musetto

    New York Post
    Top Critic

  • Ulrich Seidl's Import Export is an unflinching, at times almost unbearably hard yet moral look at human exploitation.

    July 31, 2009 | Rating: 4.5/5

    Manohla Dargis

    New York Times
    Top Critic

  • Import Export demands we contemplate the horror and the beauty of existence in equal measure.

    July 30, 2009 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Keith Uhlich

    Time Out
    Top Critic

  • Seidl's film arguably offers the toughest (and toughest to stomach) portrait of individuals tempest-tossed by the currents of the new global economy.

    July 21, 2009 | Full Review…

    Scott Foundas

    Village Voice
    Top Critic

  • Seidl is a special talent, reared on documentary and determined to get near the truth with a placidly baleful eye. You are at liberty to hate or admire his work - but you can scarcely ignore it.

    October 3, 2008 | Rating: 4/5

    Derek Malcolm

    London Evening Standard
    Top Critic

  • At times it feels like a continuation of Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-ever in its catalogue of injustices and humiliations, yet, against the odds, it rewards your endurance.

    October 3, 2008 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

    Andy Gill

    Independent (UK)
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (32)

Audience Reviews for Import/Export

  • Jul 26, 2010
    This Austrian film directed by Ulrich Seidl was nominated for the Palme d'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix - Golden Apricot reward in Yerevan International Film Festival. Shot in Vienna, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia from 2005 until May 2007, using 16mm and 35mm lenses, gives us feeling of a documentary with real dramatic style. The movie follows Olga - Ukrainian woman from Uzhhorod, and Pauli - young man from Vienna, Austria and gives us insight in their dreams, mistakes, experiences, disappointment and love... Wonderful work of art! After 135 minutes of watching I wanted MORE!
    Panta O Super Reviewer
  • Oct 14, 2009
    a very realistic look and harsh storysfollowing a nurse from the ukraine working as a cleaner in a austrian hospital, and also a young man fromaustria going east,2 stories parrerrel, following the same path, the most interesting thing on show here, isthe directionand acting,and its real locations, grimm and natural throughout, showing the countries on show,as they are in parts,and showing the life of people there,the acting is terrific,and story is interesting throughout
    scott g Super Reviewer
  • Apr 09, 2009
    The story takes place in both Ukraine and Austria and focuses on 2 lives of very different people who share a similar circumstance of being at the end of the line in the place that they live in. Both seek change and their circumstances take very different shapes and fates but share a similar intention, to find a better life. The director and writer give us little hope in their depiction of 2 lives and how their environments constantly conspire to either keep them down or challenge their will to survive and change. It is a story at once about Eastern Europe and a story about the world's 'lower classes' and their monumental struggle against inertia and their past. It is a movie filled with images, humor, highs and lows, and, graphic scenes of sexual play that all add to the base quality of the human experience that exists not only in Eastern Europe, but, many place in the world.
    Dean M Super Reviewer
  • Feb 19, 2009
    Brutally vivid analysis of East/West relations today with an unsparingly honest portrayal of the bleak situations the two main protagonists find themselves in. Easier to admire and learn from than enjoy, however.
    Gordon A Super Reviewer
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