A foray into the East/West divide that Seidl would revisit fifteen years later in Import Export, Losses to be Expected explores the borders, both physical and social, that separate people from one another. Austrian widower Josef awkwardly courts Paula, a widowed senior of German descent who lives in the Czech village just over the border. Although they live close enough for him to observe her daily routine through a pair of binoculars, their possible marriage is jeopardised by the mounting cultural differences between the impoverished socialism of the Czech Republic and the prosperous consumerism of this tiny Austrian outpost. The personal and political elements are deftly combined. Josef is looking for a housekeeper and cook as well as a sexual partner, while Paula would like an easier life but doesn’t want to become Josef’s maid. Punctuating a straightforward depiction of the couple’s tale with formal, painterly tableaux that are his visual trademark, Seidl’s imagery here is relatively restrained. But only he would have the imagination and courage to bookend such a sober study with scenes of a local village idiot performing desperately lonely striptease acts.