“Berlin Syndrome” is a different kind of serial-killer thriller: one that slows the predator/prey process down in order to focus on the clinical and psychological details. Imagine a version of “The Silence Of The Lambs” that’s entirely about Buffalo Bill and Catherine Martin, the woman he traps in his pit. More importantly, imagine if the post-‘Lambs’ wave of movies about murderous madmen cared more about the would-be victims than their tormentors. Director Cate Shortland and screenwriter Shaun Grant’s adaptation of Melanie Joosten’s novel can be too leisurely and internalized at times, but whenever the cat-and-mouse scenes pop up, they’re masterfully constructed and genuinely gripping — and all the more so because Shortland and Grant have taken the time to explore the characters.
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Teresa Palmer stars as Clare, an Australian photographer backpacking through Germany, taking pictures of Cold War-era buildings while seeking some kind of emotional connection to the country and its people. At her loneliest — and most sex-starved — Clare meets Andi (Max Riemelt), a handsome high-school English teacher who knows about literature, art, and some of Berlin’s funkier neighborhoods. She goes with him to his apartment in a mostly abandoned block of flats in a run-down part of the city. They enjoy two spectacular days and nights of lovemaking. Then on day three, when Andi leaves for work, Clare realizes that he’s locked her in — and not by accident. The windows are sealed, reinforced, and soundproof. Her cell phone has been disabled. Even more terrifying, there are indications throughout the apartment that Andi has done this before, to women who are no longer around to warn anyone.
The title of “Berlin Syndrome” is never explained in the film, but it’s an apparent nod to Stockholm Syndrome — that psychological condition where captives begin to sympathize with their captors. That doesn’t exactly describe what happens in this movie. It’s more that Clare adjusts to the possibility that she’s going to be stuck in this apartment until Andi disposes of her, and so she has to decide how to make the best of the situation — be it figuring out a means of escape, or manipulating him with sex and mind games so that he’ll make her new home more comfortable.
Much of the pleasure of this movie (if something so grim can be pleasurable) comes from watching Clare think her way through what’s happening. It takes her a full day to recognize that she’s been abducted, and in the interim she willingly has sex again with the man she still thinks of as her hot German fling. After that, she begins scavenging the apartment for anything that could be used as a weapon; and later, she suffers a slide into madness as the days creep by, endlessly. After a while, Clare almost begins to look forward to Andi returning, because at least when he’s around, she can focus on how much she wants to get out.
“Berlin Syndrome” keeps cutting to Andi’s everyday life, wherein he struggles to relate with his coworkers, has a dangerous flirtation with a student, takes care of his elderly academic father, and casually scouts around for a woman to replace Clare. There are echoes of “The Vanishing” in the way the film focuses on one psychopath’s dogged preparations and insecurities.
Shortland’s emphasis on what’s going on inside the character’s heads means that some of the actual details of what’s happening and why aren’t always entirely clear. The slow build sometimes works against “Berlin Syndrome” as a thriller. But whenever Clare is hatching another one of her long-gestating plans to escape, or when Andi’s shifting from creepy stalker to potential killer, the movie becomes almost unbearably intense.
This isn’t the kind of genre piece that everyone will warm to. Some might find the subject matter too bleak; others might wish it were pulpier. But on the whole, “Berlin Syndrome” is incredibly effective, while offering a perspective that these kinds of films usually lack. It gets to know the innocent, while rendering the evil banal. [B]
Disclaimer: This review is based on Sundance’s world premiere screening, which endured multiple technical snafus, including an interruption of the climactic final five minutes.
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