Haneke regards this film version of the story by Ingeborg Bachmann as his first real work. His earlier productions Und was komt danach? (After Liverpool) and Spermüll, as well as Drei wege zum See made for television, he calls exercises; they have therefore also not been included in the programme.The title of the story is derived from the text on a hiking map and within the structure of the film several topographies play a role. Elisabeth, the protagonist, spends a short holiday with her father in Klagenfurt. She wants to walk down to the lake, but her repeated attempts are in vain. Armed with the hiking map, she tries several possible routes. The film however does not follow her walk through the woods, but through her own memories and to the various places she has lived. In hotel rooms in Paris and London, scenes are evoked from her love life and her professional life as a photographer. Elisabeth’s relationship with her father is tense and she doesn’t feel at all at ease with him. She has a friend send a telegram to give her an excuse for a premature departure.
