Breathing

A grumpy old white man enlists the help of an Afghani migrant to bury his dead dog, and as the two dredge through prejudices to find common ground, their day takes an unexpected turn.

A snowed-in holiday hotel. A dead body in a room locked from the inside. The hotel manager wants to cover it up, but in the blink of an eye the whole hotel knows about it. Among the guests is an inspector - or at least he convincingly claims to be - who, together with his assistant who has travelled with him, undertakes extensive investigations. Then a second murder takes place. Although the inspector seems to be close to solving the case, the evidence is missing. Then, on snowshoes, the village policeman joins in, and immediately gets into trouble with the arrogant city dweller.

SUPERWORLD is a story about God and the world: a world whose heroine WORKS the till and a God we never see nor hear, but whose presence we feel throughout the film. Lead actress Ulrike Beimpold delivers a remarkable, moving performance as a woman under divine influence, a woman in crisis who sends shock waves through her whole family. While director Karl Markovics consistently works in a realistic mode, his narrative approach is often operatic, with elaborate bird’s eye shots and strikingly composed images of biblical proportions that make God’s presence manifest. Until, that is, the twilight of the gods descends and the heavens come crashing down on the plot. All good things come from above, after all. SUPERWORLD is like a small miracle. A super good one.