Michael Scherff

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.

Mary and Marquard are painters and lovers, with a common life. Once Marquard gets a prize of a considerable sum of money, his artistic creativity wanes. While Mary works in a series of paintings, Marquard visits his friend Gregor, a horse breeder and philosopher, sleeps with Angie and visits repeatedly her daughter Lucia. Marquard and Lucia, who have begun a tender and compassionate father-daughter relationship, spend two days in a seaside hotel, deciding not to speak in words. The feelings and communication emerge from a very special way. Mary, who does not know the whereabouts and the reason of the absence of Marquard, realizes it by herself: their love is over. Then, she abruptly interrupts her work so far and starts a new painting entitled "The visible and invisible."