After the death of their father, 18-year-old Helene Raupe (“coccoon”) and her younger sister Asta come under the guardianship of the youth welfare office in East Berlin. Helene fails miserably as a fishmonger, fashion assistant and bus conductor, all jobs ordained for her by the authorities. The young woman really only “emerges” in her fantasies, where she can escape from her dull, normal life. FRÄULEIN SCHMETTERLING was close to the Czech New Wave of Věra Chytilová and wanted to give expression to the everyday life of young people in East Germany. Work on the film was suspended in 1966 and it was not until 2005 that the footage was assembled into a chronologically linear edit. (Berlinale 2016 programme notes)