Film Review: THANKS FOR NOTHING: A German Language Film That Efficiently Zeroes In on Mental Health Themes [SXSW 2026]

Thanks for Nothing Review

Thanks for Nothing / Danke für nichts (2025) Film Review from the 33rd Annual South by South West Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Stella Marie Markert and starring Lea Drinda, Leon Lukas Blaschke, Jan Bülow, Kathrin Angerer, Jutta Fastian, Sonja Hurani, Ludger Bökelmann, Sonja Weißer, Safinaz Sattar and Zoe Stein.

Thanks for Nothing is a six-part, thought-provoking slice of life German film about mental health and its effects on a small group of four young women who are living in the same group home designed for girls with intense, real-life difficulties. Director Stella Marie Markert takes a provocative look at these girls’ lives in such a way that one will be moved and surprised by some of the choices the complex characters make over the course of the powerfully constructed film. Ballack (Jan Bülow) is the social worker who oversees all that happens in the home and there are many scenes focusing on the minute details of young people’s lives that may seem mundane, but often point to bigger issues that the movie bravely explores.

Lea Drinda has the juiciest role in the film as a young woman named Katharina who has planned to take her life by the time her 18th birthday arrives. This movie deals with Katharina in a sensitive way, but the picture never sugarcoats her situation even when it gives this character alternatives to avoid making the morbid choice to end her own life. People think they know the reasons Katharina is dissatisfied with her life. However, the film wisely avoids the character, herself, disclosing the true factors that she has weighed which led her to her disturbing decision.

Ricky (a well-cast Safinaz Sattar) is another memorable character within the movie. Ricky is queer and has a history of living with her parents, but soon finds her life is about to change and Ricky isn’t quite sure she’s ready for the things that are about to come her way. Victoria (Sonja Weißer), on the other hand, has mental problems which drive her to often crave attention and satisfaction. Malou (Zoe Stein, very effective) is a girl who stopped talking and this fact has led people to overlook her own talents. As Ballack supervises, the girls live their lives to the best of their abilities, some with plans to change things, either for better or worse.

Thanks for Nothing wisely keeps an optimistic (and/or hopeful) view of the lives of these young girls for much of its running time. In Markert’s capable hands, the lives of these characters become fascinating to watch in a way that resembles a successful Netflix series, except it’s all condensed into one feature film. Music factors into the film at key intervals and adds a glimmer of hope to the action that benefits the film greatly and makes it more of a positive picture than it could have been if it decided to go in a more somber direction, which it well could have.

This movie covers the day-to-day (minor) details of the characters’ lives which include their appointments and their relationships with people in and/or outside the home. Ballack becomes the guiding force for the girls to get their heads on straight, so to speak, and Ballack is the voice of reason whenever the situation calls for him to be. The main characters in this film don’t want to be pigeonholed into distinct types because they’re more complicated than typical stereotypes would properly suggest.

Like Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Thanks for Nothing is unapologetic for showing the characters’ wants and needs and how these young girls go about obtaining their wants in different ways that are unique to the specific character at hand. Katharina ultimately becomes the character that one roots for the most, but she is not overly sensitive at all. This film shows her at her most human and her most vulnerable and the film allows all its characters to exist in this creative world, sharing space almost equally across the board. When a character breaks the fourth wall, it feels overly simplistic, but it works as a device that creates humanity underneath all the technical logistics that are on-hand regarding the characters’ very distinct living arrangements.

Thanks for Nothing will certainly make one search for answers regarding the possibilities for the characters of the movie’s futures after the credits roll. Katharina could be viewed as a lost cause or a hopeful candidate for a meaningful life depending on one’s interpretation of the events of the picture. All the performances ring true, but if one has to be singled out, it’s Bülow as the social worker because all the characters become extensions of Ballack’s own professional abilities. It’s heartwarming to see the characters bond and it’s sad to see them often feel lost in the world, but by the time the ending arrives, somehow the movie makes more sense than it has any right to. Where there’s life, there’s hope. This movie certainly re-enforces that fact.

Rating: 7.5/10

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