STERBEN
A conductor embarking on a major orchestral project has his professional status threatened by family turmoil behind the scenes.
Tom (Lars Eidinger) is emotionally withdrawn and a member of the Lunies family, who haven't been a family for a long time. Tom is about to embark on the most serious project of his career, a performance of ‘Sterben’ (‘Dying’), a piece composed by a testy and depressive friend (Robert Gwisdeck) who is always butting in during rehearsals, undermining Tom, insulting the musicians and angrily unable to decide if his work is valuable or worthless kitsch. Lissy (Corinna Harfouch) is quietly happy about her husband Gerd (Hans-Uwe Bauer) slowly wasting away in a home, but her new freedom is short-lived when she receives her own bad news. And sister Ellen (Lilith Stangenberg) starts an affair with the married Sebastian (Ronald Zehrfeld), with whom she shares a love for alcohol. As Death finally turns up on the doorstep, the estranged family members finally meet again. This extremely well-made film manages to be exceedingly funny, often in some of its darkest moments. The ingenious structuring of the narrative, coupled with the disarming gravitas that the actors bring to their roles, results in one of the most visceral portraits of the nuclear family as a botched project. (Subtitles)
Germany 2024 Matthias Glasner 180m
