Clare, an Australian woman travelling through Europe, arrives in Berlin. But after a passionate night with a man she meets (Andi), she finds herself trapped in his apartment...
There's often a thin line between a good film or a bad one. Often it comes down to the execution, the writing, the acting or directing. Berlin Syndrome is an example of this. It had the potential to be a gripping thriller. Sadly however, it fails.
The big problem with this film is its writing. The film is written by Shaun Grant and Cate Shortland and is based on a novel of the same name by Melanie Joosten. Storywise, there are similarities to the John Fowles's novel The Collector, which was made into a film in 1965. In both, a man takes a woman prisoner, to hopefully have a relationship with them. In some ways, Berlin Syndrome could be a sequel to The Collector. In that film, I've not read the Fowles' novel, the abductor plots to take his first victim (though of course, he doesn't see it that way). Here, we get details to suggest that Clare is not the first woman that Andi has trapped this way.
But this is where the the film's problems begin. The film seems more interested in Andi than Clare. We never get to know much about Clare, except that perhaps she is lonely with travelling alone. It's why she falls for Andi that first night. However, once she is trapped in his home, the film lets us get to know about Andi, a teacher who visits his father regularly. We learn enough to understand his attitude to women (his mother left his father), but not enough to understand why he would resort to basically abducting women to keep in his home.
And this is where the second problem and perhaps biggest issue the film has. Apart from a few efforts at the beginning, Clare seems to give in too easily to Andi and settle into her life in his home. Although the film takes place over a long period of time, certainly months, even when potential opportunities to get away happen, she doesn't. Now, it could be that she has been 'broken' by Andi and surrenders to him, but the way it is done in the film never makes this clear.
The two leads in what is effectively a two-hander film, are both pretty good. Teresa Palmer plays Clare and gives a good performance, despite the character not being well written. Max Riemelt is very good as Andi, but he has the better material to work with.
The co-writer Cate Shoreland directs the film and while she does a good job of telling the story, leading to an admittedly tense final act, it is that story that is the problem. Which is a shame.
The film does have a very effective score from Bryony Marks and the apartment Clare is kept in is well designed.
So, up till now, I've not been very positive about this film. And yet...
As I type this up, I find myself thinking more about the outstanding film Room and also to a lesser degree the Australian serial killer thriller Hounds Of Love. In both, though more in Room, the abducted victim has settled into a routine over time. In Hounds, the victim only breaks after being abused. And this is where I begin to change my thoughts to a degree about Berlin Syndrome. In truth, no-one really knows how someone will react in a situation like this, or in any other situation where the risk of abuse or violence is there. Even well trained people don't know how they will react until it happens. I, for example, have been learning and training in Karate for over twenty years and yet have never had to defend myself in all that time, so I have no idea what would happen if I had to.
The point is and this is something Berlin Syndrome and other films of this type understand is that from the outside, we in the audience might get frustrated by some of the choices the film has the character Clare makes, you really have to get inside her mind set. Andi, her captor and abuser, knows how to manipulate his victim and others.When he watches the pupil in the gym, it's clear he has fantasies about her, but when she turns up on her terms, his response is to berate her. Had it been on his, the outcome could have been much different. Late on, he strikes up a conversation with another woman, probably to be his next victim, his manner, though using similar lines, is slightly different to how he acted with Clare.
It's this aspect that Berlin Syndrome, Room and other films of this type understand well indeed, how abusers operate.
As I said however, from an audience perspective, this does get frustrating at times. I know for example that the person in front of me was really annoyed by a scene in the woods. At the time, I had a similar reaction but, as I said it was typing this up I began to understand this better.
When I started writing this, I intended to give Berlin Syndrome a negative review. However, that my thoughts about the film have changed a lot while writing it, shows the film had got into my head, making me think more than I realised. It might have not done it the way Hounds Of Love really got under the skin, but Berlin Syndrome is just as effective.
It might make you frustrated at times watching the film. But that it has you thinking about it after, perhaps even, as with me changing your mind about it, is perhaps Berlin Syndrome's most powerful statement.
This was going to be a negative review when I started. However, in the end, Berlin Syndrome is a much better film than I first thought.
And more powerful too.
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