In "Summer in Berlin," director Andreas Dresen gives us a glimpse of two ordinary women living ordinary lives in Germany.

Katrina (Inka Friedrich) is a single mother trying to support herself and her son, Max (Vincent Redetzki). But at 39 - as she explains at several job interviews to prove she's not too old - Katrina's having a hard time finding work.

Nike (Nadja Uhl) is a nurse who provides home care for seniors, and treats them as if they were her own children. The film examines the bond between these two women. They hang out, party, sit on Nike's balcony drinking wine until the wee hours of the morning and, occasionally, they even fool around. But when Nike begins to date Ronald, (Andreas Schmidt) a trucker, she and Katrina begin to have a falling out.

Surprisingly, Wolfgang Kohlhaase's script is far less heavy-handed than one might think. It actually has a relatively light tone and even provides some nice comic relief, such as a running gag about how Nike's height. (She's too short to see into the washroom mirror at her favourite bar, so she constantly has to jump up and down to put on her lipstick.)

The story has a natural, slice-of-life feel to it. Although certain events might seem a little melodramatic and out of context, it's to Kohlhaase's credit that everything that happens in the film seems plausible. He gives good insight into the characters. It's believable that Katrina would be jealous of Nike for finding a man when she doesn't have one and of Ronald for being the man who takes her best friend (or possibly lover) away from her. That jealously would naturally cause a rift between the two of them. Taking her solace in alcohol, something which she often shared with Nike, Katrina descends to a new low and then she's attacked by a guy who walked her home from a club. That event puts this heavy-drinker over the edge and she becomes a full-fledged alcoholic.

Dresen elicits strong performances from his two female leads. He keeps Friedrich from going over the top with Katrina's physical breakdown. Uhl gives a subtler performance as Nike, a woman whose search for love, drives her to dress a little too young for her age. Even at her work, she looks more like a party girl than a nurse. Nike's frustration sizzles below the surface. Uhl can offer both quiet anger and rage as her character realizes that Ronald isn't as good a man as she'd thought.

The main problem is that despite the strong characters, and realistic depictions of life, it's just not that compelling. The plot lacks any true progression and when it eventually manages to end up somewhere, the film continues for additional 20 minutes or so.

A subplot involving Max's pursuit of a girl has the most promise. Unfortunately, this storyline is largely forgotten about throughout the film. The resolution works well, but it would have had a stronger effect if the writer and director spent more time exploring the lead-up.

Ultimately, "Summer in Berlin" fails to sustain interest even though Nike's thong can be seen in almost every scene.

The film screened as part of the Contemporary World Cinema program at the Toronto International Film Festival.