Everyone Else

Gitti and Chris, a young couple on holiday in Sardinia, get along well when they are alone. Everything changes when they meet another couple: Chris feels inadequate, Gitti sees him that way, and the relationship starts to come apart over how they appear in front of other people. Maren Ade wrote and directed. Birgit Minichmayr plays Gitti, Lars Eidinger plays Chris. The subject is not separation but the shame inside a relationship. Two people love each other, but one cannot bear how the other looks to outsiders, and it grows without being said. Ade holds her scenes long and does not let the discomfort disperse; the viewer stays inside the argument. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009, with Minichmayr named Best Actress. Ade would make Toni Erdmann seven years later; the observational power there is already built here. Who it is for: viewers who like films that examine relationship dynamics closely. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a comfortable watch; the film means to make you uneasy.