Berlin Syndrome (2017) Reviews

• Review: Berlin Syndrome - A psychological tornado of violence and suspense.

  AlexFalzon2017-04-12

  I've never seen Teresa Palmer in a film before, which is especially weird because she's Australian. I'm sorry that I haven't, because she was utterly fantastic in Berlin Syndrome. The story is fairly simple; an Australian tourist is swept off her feet by a charming local in Berlin, staying with him for a couple of days before realising that she isn't allowed to leave. Palmer's performance as Clare is so excellent that counterpart Max Riemelt can barely keep up, but keep up he does. His character, Andi, can be dashing, friendly and witty, or he can be sinister, cold and (perhaps most frightening) entirely unreadable. While director Cate Shortland surely deserves an enormous share of the credit, a scene I found simply remarkable is one where Andi suffers a loss and we as an audience are still able to feel sympathy alongside Clare for this monster of a human being. Presumably borrowing the title from Stockholm Syndrome, the lines in the relationship of Andi and Clare do begin to blur throughout the film. Where Clare feels resigned to her fate, she attempts to make the most of her situation. It's a heartbreaking journey into the human mind and what it will do to survive – or keep from going insane. In certain scenarios it's impossible to tell if Clare is so deluded as to be sincerely happy or not, though these scenarios are of course interspersed with descents back into crippling despair. What's interesting is that we don't simply follow Clare for the duration of the film, but just as often see how Andi is spending his day. It's an interesting division of screen time that frequently has the audience seeing a scene from Andi's point of view as he arrives home; we wonder along with him what Clare has been up to while he's been gone. It's a strangely fun viewing experience watching him examine the apartment for anything amiss or askew. The cinematography is great, the score fantastic. One thing I loved about the film was its ability to convey so much wordlessly. The two main characters are regularly away from each other, and these scenes are therefore obviously less reliant on dialogue. Despite this, we are able to see and almost breathe the raw, exposed emotion of the duo. The flaws in this film lay with a couple of weird editing choices (at some point we seem to be misled as to whether a character is painting their own toenails or someone else is painting the toenails of a cadaver, for some reason, and elsewhere a flight of stairs and multiple apartments could absolutely have been less disorienting). Clare also has access to a kitchen, but never uses a knife in an escape attempt. Because of the exciting moment where she finds a screwdriver in an early scene, one would assume that the kitchen is knifeless… but we're never shown an empty drawer or anything to indicate a lack of knives. It just felt a little off. The ending was disappointing; it manages to be both predictable and nonsensical, which isn't a great combination. I didn't let that ruin the film for me, though; Berlin Syndrome is a wonderful character-study and a psychological tornado of violence and suspense. Sidenote: Do people in Berlin just hate calling the police, or something? http://alexfalzon.com/berlin-syndrome/ - for spoilers (and more reviews)

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• In Andi's apartment, no one can hear you scream

  tomsview2017-08-27

  If you are hanging out for a good thriller with real style then this will capture you as surely as the girl at the centre of the story is caught. Clare (Teresa Palmer), a young Aussie tourist travelling alone in Berlin meets handsome Andi (Max Riemelt). They have a one-night stand in his apartment in a rundown neighbourhood of Berlin. However when she goes to leave next morning she finds that Andi is a man with unexpected interests and likes having her around so much that she isn't going anywhere. "Berlin Syndrome" has been compared to "The Collector", the old William Wyler movie with Terrance Stamp, but that was an overly mannered number compared to this. If the film reminds me of any other, it would be "Something Wild" starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker as the kept and the keeper. Made in 1961, there are big differences, but that film had a dose of Stockholm syndrome before we realised there was a Stockholm syndrome (named in 1973). Of course the Stockholm syndrome is a theme in the "Berlin Syndrome" and if I have any criticism it is that the title "Berlin Syndrome" is a bit too obvious for a film that takes a fresh approach in nearly every other way. Director Cate Shortland ("Somersault", "Lore") tells her stories as much visually as she does verbally; she isn't afraid of silence, and her choice of actors is inspired. Teresa Palmer is disarming. Her Clare is a little shy, but she also invests her with sexiness, and feistiness. Her character epitomises those youthful, adventurous spirits that parents wave off at airports all over the world hoping that nothing like what happens to Clare will befall them. Good looking Max Riemelt's Andi seems so intelligent and grounded at first that it is a surprise when his true nature is exposed; perfect casting against type. "Berlin Syndrome" oozes quality from the engaging actors to great locations, photography and an understated, atmospheric score. Cate Shortland has cast just as fresh an eye on the psychological drama/thriller genre as Canadian Denis Villeneuve did on "Prisoners".

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• You'll be distracted by how much better it could have been

  rabbitmoon2017-10-15

  This is one of those films where someone said "hey, what if..." and presented a very basic plot, then rushed out a draft script. Rather than redrafting and reflecting on how to make the story interesting and relevant in some way, they just pad it out to make it a feature length. As it is, what could have been a detailed, fascinating film ends up being empty and boring. Where the story promises most isn't so much the escapist suspense side of things but the situation as a metaphor for relationships. Issues of control, dominance, repression of freedom, gender stereotyping, c0-dependency. Some of these ideas are hinted at but nowhere near developed, like the writer just didn't have the substance, depth or experience to know what they were doing or saying. There's one scene where the captor is shown to be a germaphobe, which is incongruent with many other scenes in the film (he basically never shows this OCD trait again). As a suspense film it has the occasional moment, but is woefully under-written. It simply could have been a LOT better, especially given the two hour run time.

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• Slow, boring and not particularly enjoyable

  tclementdev2017-08-14

  Nothing much happens in this movie, except at the very beginning and very end. It's excruciatingly slow and boring. We don't get any insight into the characters, the dialogues are rare and do not serve any interesting purpose. In the end, it's just not enjoyable to watch. I can't think of any reason why someone would want to watch this thing.

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• A very bad man and not a bad film

  mjsreg2017-06-06

  I saw this film without having any idea of the plot other than it was a thriller about an Australian tourist in Germany. The production is very well done. It has enough stylising to make it visually interesting without being overbearing - it fits the subject, which is the darker side of a European country that has emerged from an old oppressive regime. I don't recall seeing either of the main cast (Teresa Palmer and Max Riemelt) in anything before and was impressed by their portrayal of Clare and Andi. The characters were real - they were believable. Overall this is a good quality film worth watching, especially if you are a fan of movies that portray the darker side of life without ridiculous amounts of inappropriate gore.

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