Hans-Jürgen Syberberg offers an intimate view of Romy Schneider, revealing crucial conflicts behind the image of a public figure. The Austrian-born Schneider, then twenty-seven, had been an international star for more than a decade, largely thanks to such frothy costume dramas as Sissi. Filming Schneider during her skiing vacation at Kitzbühel, Syberberg catches her at a moment of crisis in her career, which she discusses with embittered and self-deprecating candor. Bringing subtly bold methods to bear on the talking-head documentary, Syberberg detaches images of Schneider from her voice, showing clinically tight close-ups of her in the semipublic setting of a ski lift while hearing her speak in voice-over, and relying on double exposures to evoke her recollections of her adopted city of Paris.