NEW HEIGHTS

(Netflix)

Michi Wyss, 32, grew up on the family dairy farm in rural Switzerland but is relishing his new high-powered job in Zürich, far away from the cattle, shit and mud at home. He’s also far enough away from prying family to be able to explore his gay sexuality.

Suddenly, his dad dies and Michi’s life is thrown into turmoil and everything gets more complicated.

His mum is trying to keep secret the fact that dad hanged himself in the barn, the farm is heavily mortgaged and foreclosure threatens, his younger brother is not yet at the point where he can run the farm alone and he must still pass his exams, and his sister is scheming to sell off the property to get her inheritance.

Worst of all, though, leaving his new career to run the farm would mean giving up all hope of settling down with Joel (Benito Bause), the gorgeous guy he’s just started seeing – after discovering him on Grindr at work.

Duty and responsibility trump sex life. The city-country tension plays out across many levels. The high tech farming methods taught in the city may not respect the farm animals as much as the traditional farmers but without modernisation the farmers will go broke. Then there’s the freedom for Michi to be himself in the city and pursue sex with abandon, but that’s a closed book back on the farm.

At his dad’s funeral, Michi realises he’s left his phone at work, his link to his other life, and well-meaning Joel drives all the way to bring it to him. Michi’s grieving mum welcomes Joel with open arms, just as Michi is trying to send him away. At first, Michi is incensed but, simmering down, he wonders if he can combine his two lives.

This is an engaging story, beautifully told, taking quite a few turns, some of which you don’t see coming. All the acting is good, and Julian Koechlin is a stunner as Michi. (M, 8 x 50-min episodes, subtitled)