We Need to Talk

This is the story of nineteen-year-old Sabine on her year away from her home in Belgium. At first, she is scared of the unknown and contemplates ending her au-pair experience in a wealthy Bostonian suburb before it even starts. But she soon makes friends who make her stay worthwhile. Her quest for acceptance leads her into new experiences. While she battles off suspicions of her host parents, Sabine starts to question the importance of their trust and enters a conflict about her identity and independence.
Two cultures meet, two generations interact, and Sabine is left with two choices. When she falls in love with a heavy-metal drummer, she faces a split in identity. The conservative America that has left her feeling alienated stands in contrast to the way she is welcomed into the grungy, rebellious world that united transatlantic Generation X.
A teenage girl, uncertain of her place in the world, discovers where she belongs by recognising first where she doesn’t. What makes her journey intense is being removed from her own friends and family. Being forced to explore new relationships leaves her vulnerable but she finds strength in learning how to stand up to the difficulties of being a live-in au-pair at the mercy of her all-American host parents.
The loneliness she often feels forces her to observe the world around her in great detail. Her story captures a cultural study and offers an outside perspective on the American family – against the backdrop of a well-off middle class family paralleled by a glimpse at the working-class youth.