Das Sommerhaus (2014)

A haunting portrait of a well-established German family living on the outskirts of Berlin in their ideal world, but are slowly shaken by external influences.

Director:

Curtis Burz

Writer:

Curtis Burz

Stars:

Sten Jacobs, Anna Altmann, Jaspar Fuld

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Sten Jacobs	...	Markus Larsen
Anna Altmann	...	Christine Larsen
Jaspar Fuld	...	Johannes Degenhardt
Nina Splettstößer	...	Elisabeth Larsen
Stephan Bürgi	...	Christopher Degenhardt
Natascha Zimmermann	...	Anne Lass
Felix Witzlau	...	Matthias
Tobias Frieben	...	Oliver
León Delor	...	Philipp

Storyline

The Larsens are a picture perfect family from the German upper-middle class. They have everything that means comfort and should mean happiness. Business success, a stylish, light-flooded home and a full scholarship for their daughter to study in England. However, the head of the family, Markus, an architect, lives a secret, bisexual double life as his wife Christine and their eleven-year-old daughter Elisabeth drown in unendurable loneliness. Markus realizes that he has a strong yearning for one of his daughter's school friends, Johannes, 12, also the son of his tax penalty-bedeviled business partner, Christopher. He succeeds in getting closer to Johannes and binds the boy to himself with ever-increasing intensity. His wife is desperately aware of the emotional distance of her husband, but only her daughter Elizabeth, reacting to the sexually laden atmosphere, sees through the lies and secrets that she instinctively knows to be an growing, disruptive threat to the entire family. As ...

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Plot Keywords:

male frontal nudity | bisexual | blackmail | gay kiss | pedophilia | 

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Taglines:

"The Summer House" is a subtle portrait of human desire, inner desolation, self-deception and moral decadence. A film moving slowly, but ceaselessly to a final cataclysm. You want to look away, but you cannot.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English

Release Date:

15 April 2014 (Germany)

Also Known As:

The Summer House

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focusing Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo (2.0)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

Bizarre but very good film

A particularly German film with at times astonishingly vivid sex scenes that seem out of place in a mainstream picture. A few cuts could well have ensured a much better film, however the scenes with Markus and his partner's son Johannes are sublime. There's a fair bit of ambiguity (who is really influencing who) but I found this a plus rather than a negative; a lot is down to the sheer quality of the script and production values. Hollywood this isn't. I thoroughly recommend it.