The Trouble With Being Born

Elli is ten years old and lives with Georg, whom she calls Papa, in a house in the forest. It is summer. Elli swims in the pool and in the evening Georg takes her to bed with him. She looks like a girl, but Elli is an android, a machine, a dream figure. She is a copy of Georg's missing daughter. And she is the projection screen for Georg's memories. The memories mean everything to him. They mean nothing to Elli. And although Elli is just a copy, Georg loves her; she makes him happy. That's what she's there for, that's how she's programmed. When Georg follows mysterious voices from the forest, Elli disappears and is taken away by a driver. At Anna's house, Elli becomes Emil, Anna's brother who died young and for whose death Anna blames herself. Elli is given a new identity and a new existence as a projection screen.