Reproductive Labor and Liminality in Lilian Faschinger's Vienna Passion and Ulrich Seidl's Import Export

Abstract: Reproductive labor is a central theme in Lilian Faschinger's novel Vienna Passion (1999) and Ulrich Seidl's film Import Export (2007), as both texts focus on the struggles of two young female migrants in Vienna, looking to escape bleak futures over a century apart. This analysis uses spatial, social, and narrative liminality to explore how the protagonists are temporarily able to subvert existing power dynamics and find fleeting freedom. Ultimately, however, the women are unable to escape the political and social structures that oppress them, demonstrating the continual contradictions in the expectations of caregivers.