In Between Home
In her efforts to obtain accommodation and thus a residence permit in Austria, Marinela, an overburdened single Romanian mother, relies on her daughter Ilinca as a mediator and translator. The 8-year-old, however, has other plans.
Summary
In Between Home follows Marinela, an overburdened Romanian single mother trying to secure housing in Austria so she and her daughter can obtain a residence permit and build a more stable life. Faced with unfamiliar institutions, complicated paperwork, and language barriers, Marinela depends heavily on Ilinca, her eight-year-old daughter, to translate and communicate on her behalf. The child is placed in the uncomfortable position of navigating adult problems, while her mother struggles to keep their lives together. Although Marinela is focused on finding security and fulfilling the requirements imposed on her family, Ilinca has her own feelings and intentions, which gradually complicate her mother’s plans. Their relationship is the emotional center of the film: loving and mutually dependent, but also strained by the responsibilities Marinela places—necessarily or otherwise—on her young daughter. With a sensitive, grounded perspective, the film explores migration, precarious housing, bureaucracy, and the meaning of home when belonging depends on official permission. It also examines the quiet role reversal between parent and child, showing how displacement can force children to grow up too quickly while parents try to protect them from circumstances they can barely control. In Between Home is ultimately a restrained family drama about survival, independence, and the different ways a mother and daughter imagine a place where they can feel secure.
