Cinema tip of the week: This film is as shocking as few others – be sure to buy a ticket anyway! – Cinema news

For our initiative “German cinema is (yet) awesome!”, every month we choose a German film that we particularly liked, inspired or fascinated, in order to accompany the cinema release – regardless of its size – editorially like a blockbuster. This month the choice is “The devil’s bath(Theatrical release: November 14th). The German-Austrian production by the directing duo Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, set in 1750, feels like a punch in the stomach – and is as atmospheric as it is authentic:

During their research for “Des Teufels Bad”, Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, among other things, pored over historical court files – and We came across a phenomenon that most of us probably think is unimaginable, but that seems to have happened again and again: Because, according to church sermons, women who commit suicide will burn in hell forever, women longing for death have instead murdered defenseless children or even babies, only to then voluntarily stand up and be executed as murderers. Because even if all their fingers and heads are chopped off, death still means the forgiveness of their sins – and thus, despite the cruel deed, a way to heaven…

Nobody needs to expect feel-good cinema here. But With their historically accurate and emotionally authentic historical psychodrama, Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz have nevertheless created a film that goes to the heart in the best sense of the word. Especially since during their research they also came across other peculiarities that are not necessarily known from other films of the time – and which give “The Devil’s Bath” an additional level of credibility: Did you know, for example, that in cooking recipes of the time Don’t necessarily pay attention to which ingredients you should use – but, above all, which prayers you should recite during preparation?

This is the conclusion of the official FILMSTARTS review: “The ‘I see, I see’ directing duo Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz mix devastating depression drama and horror medieval iconography to create one hell of a film.“

That’s what “Des Teufels Bad” is about

1750, the last year of the era of the so-called “Enlightenment”. Agnes (Anja Plaschg) moves to a strange village specifically for her marriage to a man she barely knows – and she’s full of anticipation: she even has, as (super)belief suggests, a successful wedding night: shoved a severed human finger under the mattress. But her newlywed husband Wolf (David Scheid) still won’t touch her without any explanation – and that won’t change in the following nights.

Without knowing what’s going on, life becomes more and more hell for Agnes: her husband hardly speaks to her, her mother-in-law (Maria Hofstätter) increases the pressure that she should get pregnant and join the village community She’s not exactly welcomed. At some point, her new life becomes so bad for Agnes that she actually only sees a way out of her never-ending misery…

Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz are guests on our podcast

Unfortunately, Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz couldn’t come to our editorial office in Berlin, but we still chatted with them both in detail via Zoom. FILMSTARTS editor Pascal Reis spoke to the two of them Among other things, we talked about the extensive research work in collaboration with several historians and the differences between German and Austrian cinema (Spoiler: The differences also have something to do with the different film funding models).

Florian Rainer / Ulrich Seidl film production

I can really only recommend that you definitely listen to the episode of our podcast Canvas Love, especially if you don’t feel like watching the same films over and over again in slightly different formats. Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz They also tell us why they want the cinema to no longer be a safe place – but rather one that deliberately pushes the audience out of their comfort zone:

After celebrating its world premiere in the official competition of the Berlinale, “Des Teufels Bad” officially opens in cinemas nationwide on November 14, 2024. If you want to find out which cinemas in your area are showing the film when it opens, you can do so in our cinema program for “Des Teufels Bad”.