Film

Wetlands

Name: Wetlands
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 2013
Cast: Carla Juri, Axel Milberg, Meret Becker, Peri Baumeister, Christoph Letkowski

Coming-of-age

A German comedy-drama about a deliberately vulgar teenage girl hospitalized after a mishap, who uses her hospital stay to seduce a nurse and reconcile with her divorced parents. Carla Juri is magnetic in a role that refuses to apologize—blunt, sexual, funny, and oddly tender. It's for people who like their coming-of-age stories raw and unsentimental.

TMDb rating

2.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a bratty, frank, bodily comedy that treats hygiene, sex and family rage with a grin and no squeamishness, and you enjoy a heroine who refuses to be liked.

Skip it if the grossness is the point and rarely lets up, so if squirming at bodily detail or a loosely strung, episodic story wears thin for you, this may feel long.

What it asks of you: Expect a restless, close-up attention to one girl's mind and body, scenes that linger on discomfort, and a tone that swings between jokes and hospital-ward stillness.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Thirteen2003

A portrait of adolescent self-destruction and female friendship that's equally unflinching about desire, shame, and the need to be seen. It has the same fearless energy and refusal to make its protagonist likable.

But The depiction of drug use and sexual behavior is genuinely disturbing rather than titillating, which some find punishing to watch rather than clarifying.

Dumplin'2018

A body-positive comedy about a girl using rebellion and pageantry to upset her mother and find herself. Shares Wetlands' mix of humor, genuine heart, and a protagonist who won't be conventionally palatable.

But The Netflix sheen and musical-comedy tone are much softer than Wetlands—it lands closer to Hallmark than provocation.

Hereditary2018

A family horror film where the real terror is psychological dysfunction and the inability of parents and children to reach each other. The hospital setting differs but the claustrophobic family wreckage is similar.

But It's a full-bore horror film—if you came for awkward comedy and ended up here, the tonal whiplash is real and upsetting.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wetlands

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Raw2017

Both films use corporeal taboo—sex in Wetlands, cannibalism in Raw—to explore adolescent transformation and the terror of losing control of your own body and desires.

A French-Belgian body horror film about a vegetarian girl who develops a taste for human flesh after arriving at veterinary school. Like Wetlands, it uses the body—desire, appetite, transgression—as the true subject.

But It's a horror film with graphic violence and extremely disturbing imagery. This is not a comedy; it's genuinely nauseating by design.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl2015

A semi-autobiographical film about a girl discovering her sexuality in the 1970s through voice-over, animation, and raw honesty. Equally committed to making teenage lust unglamorous and funny.

But The grooming subplot is painful to watch and the film doesn't resolve it neatly—it sits with discomfort rather than offering closure.

Boyhood2014

Richard Linklater's 12-year chronicle of a boy growing up, non-judgmental and digressive. The same belief that ordinary life and small moments of friction matter more than plot.

But It's 166 minutes of watching a kid exist. If you need narrative propulsion or dramatic turns, this will feel like watching paint dry in real time.

Fish Tank2009

A British film about a volatile teenage girl living in confined spaces with her family and chasing escape through dancing. The same mix of aggression, sexuality, and genuine vulnerability.

But It ends grimly and offers no redemption—the film is interested in documenting entrapment, not relieving it.

Spring Breakers2013

Harmony Korine's neon fever dream about girls using transgression as self-expression. Formally wild and genuinely interested in female desire rather than judging it.

But It's a style object that often overwhelms character—if you want story clarity, the aesthetic excess will frustrate you.

The Misandrists2017

A provocative comedy about gender politics and ideological hypocrisy from German filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. Equally committed to being uncomfortable and funny about sex and ideology.

But It's aggressively transgressive for its own sake—the provocation can feel like the point rather than a means to something larger.

Mistress America2015

Noah Baumbach's comedy about two young women and their chaotic, codependent friendship. Fast-talking, digressive, and equally uninterested in making its characters sympathetic.

But The rapid-fire dialogue and plot convolutions can feel scattered and shallow compared to Wetlands' commitment to feeling.

Girlhood2014

Both reject coming-of-age sentimentality in favor of showing how girls actually behave and survive: through transgression, cruelty, intimacy, and a refusal to be fixed or redeemed.

A French documentary-style drama following a Black teenage girl in a working-class suburb over two years. Raw observational cinema about identity, friendship, and the price of being a girl without resources or safety nets.

But It's glacially paced and deliberately unglamorous—there's no narrative satisfaction, only the weight of accumulated small humiliations.