From director Andrea Staka comes Fraulein, a sometimes intriguing, sometimes tepid drama about three generations of Southern European refugees who plant a flag in Switzerland. The most recent arrival, Ana (Marija Skaricic) has no plan beyond living her life out of a bus station locker and making enough money to eat and stay afloat. A generation above her is Ruza (Mirjana Karanovic), a 40-something who runs the cafe where Ana comes looking for work. Like Ana, Ruza fled the bloody Balkans and has no intention of ever going back, but she's had years to adapt to her homeland and to gain some measure of security. She's also affected a German no-nonsense attitude that causes her to cast a cold eye on this young woman who walks in out of nowhere, expecting help. Older than both of them is Mila (Ljubica Jovic), a Croatian who schemes with her husband to save up enough money to return to Croatia in style. The German Swiss community she's belonged to for so long has never really made a dent, we're led to believe.

If there's one thing Ruza understands, it's the difference between big and small problems, and the way the latter can turn into the former if not nipped in the bud. In dealing with her employees at the cafe, she's something of a Mayor Guiliani, punishing even the smallest infractions and keeping a watchful eye on all potential goofing-off, in the hopes that this kind of vigilance will stave off any kind of serious disregard for the rules. When we first meet her, she's confronted on her way into the office by Mila, who wants to offer up a young relative for a new position. Insulted that Mila would assume she can have such influence over hiring decisions, Ruza briskly informs her: "I do the hiring here." As you might expect, Ana's introduction into the picture is something of a catalyst to soften her up and make her remember that life is not just to be endured. Ana is also not above prodding her for a little Balkan solidarity, at one point bluntly asking: "Why do you speak German to me?"

The trouble that Ruza has worked so studiously avoid eventually catches up with her, when we learn that Ana is more of a wreck than was previously known. Whatever happened to her in the former Yugo, whatever she picked up there and brought with her, it now causes her to spit blood while brushing her teeth. We also see her mixing it up at a dance club and eventually becoming disoriented and dizzy and marvel at what could possibly be going on in her head when she accepts a guy's invitation for coffee and then ditches him after he leaves her for a split second. Is she war-scarred or just young and impulsive? Either way, the more the film goes on, the more clear it becomes that she is trouble. Not a bad seed, really, but just trouble. Having already opened up her life to this young refugee, however, and unable to keep her eagle eye from noticing the girl's poor health and generally ragged state, it's Ruza's choice to decide what if anything she can do to help.

Fraulein works best in its opening scenes, when the dynamic of the three women is still falling into place and we're not quite sure who is who and what their goals are. Once we catch on, the story becomes a somewhat rote tale of generational support and a commentary on whether immigrants have the luxury of helping each other out or whether the journey is, by necessity, a solitary one. Each of the three women -- even the one who runs a stable business and has both feet firmly planted in the community -- have something less than a stable position in society, because of where they came from and what the old life meant to them, and there's ultimately not much to say beyond that. The film's ending is very abrupt, which is fine, but in leaving a number of issues completely unresolved, you could argue that the story is unfinished. I'm not suggesting they're setting up for a sequel or anything, but if they are, I think it should focus only on that one character who decides to pack up their gear and move to greener pastures.