Eat, pray, whatever.

Idling through her forties, Ellen's life is about to hit the brakes. Losing her job, partner and mind all in the same week, she embarks on a bizarre anti-journey of self-discovery that finds her wandering through endless hotel-room corridors, living in squalor with self-righteous animal activists and, later, performing nude street theatre.

Pia Marais' follow-up to her 2007 debut, The Unpolished (MIFF 2006), is a warm but biting coming-of-middle-age drama. Featuring a magnetic performance by Jeanne Balibar as Ellen, At Ellen's Age is a frank, insightful portrait of a life that might, quite pleasantly, be heading toward nowhere.

Pia Marais is a guest of the Festival.

"Tough, dispassionate but also amusing and honest, it's only when the final credits roll that you realise this is a film dealing in ideas and provocations." - Time Out London

D Pia Marais P Claudia Steffen, Christoph Friedel S Horst Markgraf, Pia Marais WS The Match Factory L German w/ English subtitles TD 35mm/2010