Gegenüber

Counterparts
Georg Hoffmann is a calm and collected police officer with little ambition and is not what you think of as a hero. But one day he manages to save the life of his younger partner Michael during a dangerous operation, and is to be given a promotion for the action. He is also admired by his colleagues for his apparently harmonious marriage with primary school teacher Anne. But the family bliss is only on the surface. Anne is almost obsessed with the lack of recognition she gets, which finds expression in outbreaks of verbal and sometimes physical abuse. It gets so bad that Georg doesn′t even dare to tell her about saving Michael or that their son had decided to quit his studies. In their weekly visits to Anne′s parents they have to endure her father′s scorn and contempt for her and her "loser" of a husband as he writes out a cheque to help pay for his grandchildren′s studies. The rickety balance in the familial drama begins to teeter dangerously when Georg invites his colleagues over for a beer and Anne begins to flirt outrageously with Georg′s partner Michael.

First time feature filmer Jan Bonny has captured the intimate details of this marital warfare with a hand-held camera. Bonny: "Gegenüber" is above all about dependencies, love and fear … Violence is only the core of the story… But through violence the narrative′s drama, the shame of the protagonists and the way they experience their own shortcomings flare up again and again … There is hardly any escape from this situation."

Source: 58. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)