Import/Export (2007)

83% of critics liked it
(30 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(1,476 ratings)

Director Ulrich Seidl's despairing, relentlessly downbeat social drama Import/Export unfolds against the backdrop of contemporary Europe. Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a single mother struggling to raise her child with a very meager income from her nursing job in a Ukrainian hospital. In desperation, she… More Director Ulrich Seidl's despairing, relentlessly downbeat social drama Import/Export unfolds against the backdrop of contemporary Europe. Olga (Ekateryna Rak) is a single mother struggling to raise her child with a very meager income from her nursing job in a Ukrainian hospital. In desperation, she takes a job as a nude webcam model for an adult entertainment outfit that caters to German men, then quickly decides that life in her town is unbearable, and ultimately leaves her child with her mother, heading west to search for a better life. Meanwhile, in Austria, ne'er-do-well loser Pauli (Paul Hofmann) lives with his mother and his greasy-haired stepfather, Michael (Michael Thomas), to whom he's increasingly indebted. Pauli is training to be a security guard, but gets stripped, then relentlessly beaten and assaulted by a gang of youths. Eventually, Pauli and Michael hit the road together, delivering poker and gumball machines to locations across Eastern Europe, and Michael reveals a truly degenerate side, using his time on the road for a string of sexual encounters with different women. At the same time, Olga makes her way to Austria, enduring a series of occupations including those of au pair, maid, and eventually, charwoman in a geriatric hospital plagued by mistreatment of the elderly. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 15 min.
Directed By: Ulrich Seidl
Written By: Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: May 21, 2006 Wide
On DVD: Jan 26, 2010
Studio: Movienet

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
The mood is as dismal as the weather in Import/Export, by Austrian auteur Ulrich Seidl.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
Ulrich Seidl's Import Export is an unflinching, at times almost unbearably hard yet moral look at human exploitation.
Scott Foundas, Village Voice
Seidl's film arguably offers the toughest (and toughest to stomach) portrait of individuals tempest-tossed by the currents of the new global economy.
Russell Edwards, Variety
Miserable but masterful.
Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter
A tawdry little film ostensibly about the cultural clashes resulting from the proximity of former Soviet states, such as the Ukraine, to western nations such as Austria. There is a film to be made on the topic, but this isn't it.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Import Export adds the welcome element of humanity to stand between the cruelty and humor.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
There is never a moment telegraphed in the story...keeping me interested and attentive throughout its 2 hour runtime.
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Eastern work ethic vs. the softer West. It is clear who Seidl sides with.
Matthew Nestel, Boxoffice Magazine
Technically, the sedate yet stunning 35mm camera is there for the ride and somehow never imposes or dominates the content. And the result is a true triumph.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
Occasionally drags, but offers a relentlessly stark glimpse into the morbid, tragic life of two lost souls who haven't found happiness or prosperity.
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com
blunt and brutal
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York
Import Export demands we contemplate the horror and the beauty of existence in equal measure.
Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
The titular backslash of Import/Export turns out to be a vast geographical schism, crossed only intermittently by thin strands of mutual emotional anguish.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Sometimes a bit hard to stomach, but has such vividly realistic characters and situations that it can't be ignored.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
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.
Andy Gill, Independent
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.
Nigel Andrews, Financial Times
The Austrian miserablist who gave us Dog Days - sharper and more mischievous in its portrait of exurbia's human excreta - delivers an essay in symmetrical despondence that seems both tidy and empty, like a trash can after street-cleaning.
, Sun Online
It came highly recommended by The Sneak's sources, but it is much too bleak, way too long and contains far too many graphic and soulless sex scenes.
Sam Wigley, Total Film
Yet his unerring eye for the absurdity of human behaviour and the rituals we invent for ourselves makes this a blackly humorous treat.
Elliott Noble, Sky Movies
Veracity and mordant humour are all well and good, but Seidl treads a very fine line between making jokes about being sick and making sick jokes.

Read all 21 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

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… More
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.
Gordon A

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.
Panta O

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… More
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!