“You swore that you’d love me forever”
Frank doesn’t recognize his teenage sweetheart, Romy, when she turns up at his door 24 years later. She’s come to remind him of a promise he made. Meanwhile, Frank’s son is making a similar promise to his teenage girlfriend. When an accident forces Frank to take Romy into his home, the cracks in Frank’s marriage begin to widen and events take a startling turn. Playing with time and perception, Schimmelpfennig’s The Woman Before is a tense, darkly humorous study of obsession, desire and the enduring power of first love.