Love is in the air and married couple Valentin and Joanna will do anything
to save their relationship in the Austrian film “Die Wunderübung”.
The film, which
means “The Miracle Exercise” in German, was screened Monday at the opening the
first Austrian Film Days organized by the
Royal Film Commission in cooperation
with the Austrian Embassy in Jordan.
اضافة اعلان
The film, directed
by Michael Kreihsl, adapts the tabloid marital crisis play by Daniel Glattauer
with Devid Striesow and Aglaia Szyszkowitz in the leading roles. Its focus is
on a couple who want to save their troubled relationship with a therapist, when
the session takes an unexpected turn.
The plot
Love can do almost anything: break hearts, move mountains, destroy
kingdoms. However, there is one thing love cannot do: bridge the gap between a
couple that has grown apart. Two people who once loved each other and could
rely on one another more than they could anyone else.
Now, many years and
many experiences later, they speak a completely different language. Joana
(Aglaia Szyszkowitz) and Valentin (Devid Striesow) stand on opposite sides of
the aforementioned gap. After more than a decade of marriage, they communicate
with each other argumentatively, so their daughter forces them to see a
couple’s therapist. The therapist (Erwin Steinhauer) is very happy with the two
of them.
There has been a
trend in recent years toward minimalist argumentative comedy. Roman Polanski’s
play adaptation “The God of Carnage” still tops that genre in terms of
originality. Not only did the genre start with him, but the controversial
director also perfected all aspects of the energetic chamber play.
Western style
The film’s entire story plays out within a single room. In Wolfgang
Thaler, Kreihsl has one of the best local camera operators at his side, who
tweaks the three-person action a Western style. You are almost permanently in
dual mode. Above all, the wide-screen framing emphasizes the distance between
the husband and wife. If they are separated from each other by a shot, they
suddenly appear tired and exhausted. Valentin promptly falls asleep during an
esoteric exercise in which he is supposed to remember something beautiful from
the past.
In its second half,
Die Wunderübung takes a turn that is not quite as unexpected as the author
probably thought is. In general, this merry-go-round of relationships is so
mechanical that you can easily predict what happens next. Plays and films in
the genre usually harbor a moment of madness; the possibility of breaking
etiquette and conventions. Regrettably, it does not happen in this film.
An unfortunate
consequence of the film’s adaptation from a play is that it does not transition
well; the deliberately sober setting loses the magic of the stage when a screen
is introduced as a “barrier”. Additionally, a therapeutic exercise intended to
break the ice instead — spoiler alert — builds more tension to the detriment of
the film. It leaves the viewer confused.
Die Wunderübung’s
presents powerful dialogue as a solid basis for the film adaptation, but it
fails to rid itself of its theatrical atmosphere. Furthermore, viewers see the
twist coming halfway through, which deflates the film’s tension.
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