Wolke Neun (Andreas Dresen, 2008)

An elderly East German woman finds a passion she had forgotten after 30 years of marriage to a staid train enthusiast through an affair with another pensioner. This causes no end of hand-wringing as she attempts to reconcile her own needs with her sense of guilt.
With this type of small-scale drama the virtues are also limitations: character depictions are life-like and there's no resorting to histrionics, but an adherence to realism can stunt dramatic structure as well. Yes, it's rare that we see pensioners having sex and it's a worthy point to make, but Cloud 9 frequently forgets to move on to the next point.
Nevertheless, it is a serious piece, well acted, and on balance makes a virtue of reminding us what crises lie just under the surface of small, everyday lives.

6/10