Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz – 2015 – Austria
What this Austrian psychological
thriller lacks in originality, it makes up for in frosty style. Lukas and Elias are adolescent twin sons of a
moderately successful TV personality, recently single. A divorce has left the family scarred and an
unseen traffic accident has left the mother’s face healing under a maze of
bandages. Her changed visage and remote
aura cause the boys to doubt that she is indeed their mother. Thus mounts a battle of wills as madness and
violence take hold of the isolated household.
Aside from the solid, eerie performances of the Schwarz brothers as the
twins, what makes the film successful is its measured pace that is punctuated
at intervals by jarring and surreal visions.
The film admirably evokes a legacy of classic psychodramas and thrillers
– from Eyes Without a Face (1960) to Persona (1966) to Halloween (1978) – with its preoccupation with the motif of faces
and masks; what bare faces can conceal in their owners and what masks
reveal. I won’t waste time dealing with
spoilers, but I’ll just say that the film has a twist ending that – though
certainly well-handled – felt like somewhat of a letdown. Those climactic revelations in such movies
are so hackneyed and predictable that I was actually surprised such an intelligent
film was really going there.
No comments:
Post a Comment