Since the two women live in such close proximity to each other, Tina(Daniela Holtz) really has no choice but to invite the schoolteacher over for her birthday shindig. Tina knows from previous visits to Melanie's place that the comings and goings of her apartment can be easily surveyed from a picture window. Although Tina is leery about Melanie's clinginess and persistent attempts to ingratiate herself in the shop girl's social circle, she doesn't want to hurt the woman's feelings.<br /><br />In a new town with a new job and new apartment, Melanie Proschle(Eva Loebau) assumes that it'll just be a matter of time before she makes new friends. But in spite of Melanie's best efforts, her students and colleagues reject her, as "Der Wald vor lauter Baumen" offers us a harrowing glimpse of a young woman's mystifying inability to connect with other people. Shot on high-def digital video, the camera is unforgiving in catching every setback that registers on Melanie's face with unerring clarity. Her innovative teaching methods, which she trumpeted at a small faculty luncheon with naive impudence, fails to reach the hearts and minds of both her fifth and nine grade students, who challenge the inexperienced teacher's authority every chance they get. The jagged film ably captures the insanity of trying to teach non-compliant children through the beleaguered teacher's reaction shots to the schoolhouse cacophony. Melanie looks as if she's afraid that the unruly students will eat her alive. Not only do the students hate the young educator, but the teachers as well, with the exception of Thorsten(Jan Neumann), who preys on her needs for a confidant's shoulder that she can depend on for a good cry, or lean. Watching this balding science teacher in action is a study of how the workplace is like a singles bar without the alcohol and smoking. Out of desperation, Melanie eventually goes on a lunch date with Thorsten, in spite of the fact that she normally takes her breaks in a storage closet to avoid him during school hours.<br /><br />While her professional life lays in shambles, Melanie counts too heavily on Tina for companionship, who might of been a model before she opened up her own boutique. The schoolteacher first laid eyes on Tina in her flat, bawling her eyes out after an animated conversation on the phone. Later on, when the schoolteacher sees Tina on her cigarette break at work, she doesn't let on that they're neighbors. Melanie is every bit as calculating as her colleague Thorsten in this respect; she knows that the right time to insinuate yourself in somebody's life is when the person is at their most vulnerable. If Tina wasn't distracted by her relationship problems, she'd be more cognizant to Melanie's orchestration of their first meeting, and be leery about her ensuing intrusiveness and sense of entitlement to discuss the boyfriend as if they were longtime intimates. Under normal circumstances, Tina probably wouldn't give Melanie the time of day. They simply don't travel in the same social circles. "Der Wald vor lauter Baumen" is almost unbearable to watch whenever Melanie violates the parameters that Tina set out for their commingling, by glomming onto her jet-set friends at private get-togethers that she crashes uninvited. Tina and Melanie's coupling bears more than a passing resemblance to the model/non-model friendship in "Veronica", the celebrated novel by Mary Gaitskill about a high-fashion model named Allison who befriends the titular character, an older, less glamorous woman, with AIDS. Tina may like Melanie, but she's ashamed of her. She's her dirty little secret.<br /><br />With great economy and precision, "Der Wald vor lauter Baumen" shows us to what lengths a human being will go to make contact with another human being.