In I Understand Your Displeasure, Kilian Armando Friedrich creates a powerful and moving portrait of domestic and migrant workers, focusing not only on their daily labour but also on the psychological pressures they face while trying to keep both life and work in balance.

Friedrich’s camera remains intimately close to Heike (Sabine Thalaou), the cleaning manager at the centre of the story, so close that every moment of moral conflict is tangible. When you watch the film, you are consumed by the pressure and exhaustion of her world, unable to step back and almost forced to witness the cost of carrying the burdens of others while remaining largely unseen.

The film becomes even more powerful because Friedrich works with non-professional actors, whose real-life experiences make the story feel very true. Sabine Thalau, who plays Heike, brings a strength to the role, showing a woman shaped by hardship but not defined by it. Friedrich has said that Sabine’s own life – her losses and daily struggles – was part of Heike’s character, but it never takes over the story. Her performance is truly one of a kind. Moments of improvisation, guided gently rather than strictly directed, give the film a rhythm and let us feel the tension of Heike’s moral choices in real time.

READ MORE: Kilian Armondo Friedrich on His First Narrative Feature

I Understand Your Displeasure explores domestic and low-wage labour in contemporary Germany, a sector often rendered invisible in public discourse and cinema. Friedrich’s film foregrounds the ethical and emotional dilemmas of these “invisible” people, showing how domestic workers, cleaners, and managers are trapped within systems that rely on their compliance but rarely acknowledge their humanity. The film’s realism comes from extensive research and observation, allowing audiences to grasp the systemic pressures that build these workers’ lives while recognising the acts of compassion and dignity that persist despite exhaustion.

In the end, the film is powerful as much for what it shows as for what it asks us to face: the heroism of everyday labour, the compromises built into low-wage work, and the strength people find under constant pressure.

Heike is not a traditional hero, but an ordinary woman forced to make impossible choices, her strength inseparable from her vulnerability. Through close camerawork, careful pacing, and moments of improvisation, Kilian Armando Friedrich brings us inside her world, allowing us to feel her fear, fatigue and brief flashes of hope. I Understand Your Displeasure becomes a portrait of empathy, a film that doesn’t want us to look away from lives we too often ignore.

Rating:

Written by Maggie Gogler

Featured image courtesy of WENNDANN FILM

_{View of the Arts is an online publication dedicated to film, music, and the arts, with a strong focus on the Asian entertainment industry. As we continue to grow, we aim to deepen our coverage of Asian music while remaining committed to exploring and celebrating creativity across the global arts landscape.}