The tenth muse

The film takes place in 1964, in Asta Nielsen's apartment on Frederiksberg, where she meets the young filmmaker Lars Schmidt. Their meeting is set to discuss the making of a film portraying her life. Asta Nielsen receives the young filmmaker in her home, and she seems surprisingly willing to talk and to participate in the filmmaker's project. But he ends up being too close - too close to the truth. Asta Nielsen's private life behind the stage has always remained a mystery to the public. Lars Schmidt is thrilled: It is going to be a great story. However, he gets more and more inquisitive and begins to question Asta Nielsen's description of the relationship with her daughter, Jesta. Asta Nielsen feels threatened and fires the filmmaker. Nevertheless, she is determined to take over the production and make her own portrait film. Jesta becomes so appalled with the behaviour of her mother, that she, for the first time, tells openly about her life in the shadow of 'Die Asta': A cruel story about being "ugly" and "a failure" in order to let the mother's star shine. Jesta finally relieves the burdens of her heart and tells everything - but it is more than she can bear - and she commits suicide. The filmmaker comes to realize that revealing other peoples' secret lives, is not without severe consequences.