Film Review: EVERYTIME: A Haunting and Beautiful Look at Loss Through a Unique Lens [NYFF2026]

Everytime Review

Everytime (2026) Film Review from the 64th Annual New York Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Sandra Wollner and starring Birgit Minichmayr, Lotte Shirin Keiling, Tristán López, Carla Hüttermann, Raphael Ghobadloo, Naomi Elia Richard and Hermann Beyer.

In filmmaker Sandra Wollner’s extraordinarily layered new drama, Everytime, the viewer is forced to question everything that is essential in terms of how to cope with an unimaginable tragedy and, also, how to move forward after such a traumatic event. In this film, a young teenage girl named Jessie (Carla Hüttermann) dies early on. Her family and boyfriend are forced to pick up the pieces and those pieces are very difficult to piece together after the loss of Jessie, who was clearly the glue that held them all together.

I’ll get to, perhaps, the most healing moment for the family right away. It comes when a key character lays a fart at a very unexpected moment during a family outing. Before you think of the power of fart references in movies like Good Will Hunting, keep in mind the grief the characters in Everytime have experienced and this scene fits right into the proceedings as an example of how to find humor in a situation that defies logic and makes the characters question their very own existence on this earth.

This fart humor is a clear chance for everyone to break free of pain, if only momentarily. That pain is spelled out for us in an early image where Jessie falls off a high building in a shot that is among the most captivating and haunting of any you’ll see in the movies this year. When we later see Jessie in pictures where her innocence prevails, it is easy to mourn her loss and the effect of that loss on those loved ones she leaves behind.

A baby is found late in Everytime just sitting by a toy. That baby has a resemblance to Jessie in some ways and this child seems to have been abandoned, which begs the question of whether or not this child is a sign from up above that Jessie’s spirit still roams the earth.

This movie doesn’t really explore the tragedy as one that could destroy a family, but rather one that can bring a family closer together although the boyfriend of Jessie may not continue to be there because of the intensity of the situation at hand.

Our mother character, Ella (Birgit Minichmayr) lets the boyfriend of Jessie, Lux (Tristán López), feel some sense of blame or regret. We don’t get the “it’s not your fault” vibe that other movies could have went with. Ella clearly knows Lux and Jessie had no business being up on that roof from which Jessie fell. Lux must come to terms with the grief and come to accept that he had at least some part in the fact that Jessie is no longer with her family.

This film’s most fascinating character is the young sister, Melli (Lotte Shirin Keiling), who plays video games and upbeat music to get by. One scene has her text Jessie’s old phone and three dots start appearing as if there is someone on the other end until the phone goes for a hurl, and cracks, thus never allowing Melli to find out who was communicating on the other end. It could be a sign from above that Jessie still had some unfinished business with Melli that she wanted to express to her.

Everytime is poetically brilliant. Jessie’s innocence and loss of it through the absence of her presence in the world haunts the viewer in so many ways. This movie knows no way to cope with the void left in Ella’s life other than to assure her that there is a reason for her to exist and be there for Melli, who needs her so very much.

The performances are all first-rate. López has a difficult role and handles it well. His character won’t seemingly be around forever in the family’s lives, but he needs to be there for a bit. Lux needs to understand what Jessie’s loss means to both Melli and Ella. Through his interaction with them, he tries to be a temporary substitute, one who can never truly fill the void that Jessie has left behind.

Images of Carla Hüttermann’s Jessie are effective in conveying her life’s meaning and the way it affects her family that is left behind. Birgit Minichmayr will tear the viewer’s heart out with her characterization as it is full of depth and sorrow that is expressed in haunting ways as Ella searches for meaning after the greatest tragedy a mother could endure takes place.

It is Lotte Shirin Keiling who is the most valuable asset to Everytime. Melli wanders throughout the film as a character who is learning each and every step of her way and it’s one of the best child actress performances of the year. There is passionate curiosity and love that is expressed through Melli’s actions and it’s easy to feel her character’s pain and hope for a future that will be optimistic. 

Everytime is the type of heavy movie that actually works effectively because of the beating heart that is on the screen, thanks to the characterizations, which flow extraordinarily well. Through the absence of Jessie, losing all hope actually brings hope back into the equation as characters try to pick up the pieces when they are all so very fragile to hold onto. Everytime is a film that will not be forgotten once it is experienced.

Rating: 8.5/10

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