Elfriede Jelinek's novel 'Die Liebhaberinnen' has been brought to the screen, and the headline jokes about a scene in which the lovers have to sleep in a gym. Koxi directed the adaptation, taking on one of the Austrian author's tougher works. Johanna Wokalek and Hannah Schiller fill the lead roles, giving shape to the women at the center of the story. The source material follows young women in provincial Austria and the hard bargains their circumstances force on them. Filming prose this dense is a gamble, since Jelinek's language rarely lends itself to easy images. The verdict attached to the piece is short and generous: highly worth watching. The full review sits behind a premium paywall, so readers need a subscription to get past the headline. Anyone drawn to unconventional Austrian fiction now has a pointed recommendation.