After 17-year-old Cleo survives the devastating car crash that killed both her parents, she succumbs to post-traumatic stress disorder. She feels she is to blame for the accident that she herself only barely survived. Like a woman drowning, she gasps for air as well as for her old life. Her grandmother (Yolande Moreau) tries her best to be there for Cleo and her younger brother but, as rebellious teenagers will, Cleo mostly pushes her away. In her desperation she descends into Brussels’ nightclub scene where she encounters Leos, an older man who strangely appears to share her wounds. Through this stranger, believes Cleo, she can reinvent a new version of herself. Meanwhile, she finds genuine solace in music. Her father was a famous pianist who passed on his talent to Cleo. She starts to practice a work by Rachmaninov and, in preparing for a performance, finds the breathing space she needs to make a fresh start.

For her depiction of Cleo, Anna Franziska Jäger was recognised with the Rising Star Award at the 2019 Alice nella città film festival in Rome.

Awards for ›Cleo‹
My Movies Award for the Best First Feature Film – Alice nella città, Rome 2019 | Rising Star Award/Best Emerging Actress (Anna Franziska Jäger) – Alice nella città, Rome 2019