When East Germany ceases to be separate from its western half, one would think that things would be better for the couple in this movie who have been plagued by sexual and political harassment of the most virulent kind, but , they are completely unprepared to cope with the swift changes that are transforming their familiar yet desperately unhappy world. In the story, Heinz is a laborer in the cooperative apple orchards of an East German village and has married his sweetheart Lena. She works to take care of the sickly wife of the co-op's manager and also must cope with the sexual attentions of the perfidious man. One day, after discovering this state of affairs, Heinz blows up and assaults his wife's harasser, which only serves to land him in jail. While in prison, the state secret police (the Stasi) get him to help them entrap the co-op manager, whom they believe is going to try to defect.
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Cast
20 people
Helma Sanders-Brahms Director
First release March 25, 1992 · Produced in Germany · Original title Apfelbäume
Production
Alert Film
Production
Germany
Produced in
Languages
Original title
Apfelbäume
Original language
German
Spoken on screen
German
Release dates
Germany · March 25, 1992
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
Canada
September 11, 1992 · Toronto Film Festival
France
September 29, 1993
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Some details come from TheTVDB.