Germany has had more than its fair share of convulsive historical events and cultural trauma, but it's the urban guerrilla movement of the mid-1970s that is increasingly occupying film-makers. Christian Petzold's The State I Am In shows, without going into details, how the fear and bitterness of that era still infect the present day.

The central character is an only child called Jeanne (Julia Hummer), a sulky 15-year-old eternally frustrated in her desire to live a normal teen life by her fugitive parents. The couple are wanted by the state for nebulous terrorist crimes.

When the film starts they're holed up in Portugal; by the time it ends they're squatting in an empty house in the German countryside. In between, they fend off the increasingly intrusive activities of the police.

Their obsessive habits of secrecy only serve to increase Jeanne's feelings of isolation and vulnerability - no boyfriends or shopping trips for her. Something has to give, and eventually Jeanne hooks up with a long-haired kid who works in a pizza parlour.

The State I Am In is laudable on many levels: it's precise and unforgiving in its exploration of warped family life, and its focus on an unhappy teen makes an interesting metaphor (with that double-meaning title) for the nation's growing pains.

What makes the film hard going, however, is the way it asks us to spend 100 minutes in the company of such resolutely unlikable individuals.

• At the Filmhouse today at 4.30pm. Box office: 0131-623 8030.