When architect Georg Winter accepts a prize, he explains that an architect has the good fortune of measuring every realised building against the rightness of his original idea. Which also reveals the theoretical framework of Ina Weisse’s feature début about a middle-age man who is forced to take stock of the achievements and mistakes he has made in his personal life.
Der Architekt is an intense drama in which the four members of the family travel to a mountain village to bury Georg Winter’s mother. They get stranded in bad weather. In this unexpected isolation, several proverbial skeletons emerge from the cupboard to throw new light on the past but also on the present life of the parents and the two almost-adult children.
Weisse’s first feature has many classic aspects but also allows the actors to leave the beaten path. The smooth surface of the model family hides sexual intrigues and unhealthy dependencies. Weisse plays these beautifully against each other in charged scenes in which the characters do not as much reveal factual details as psychological characteristics. Against the background of the virgin white winter landscape of the Tirol, the director repeatedly adds new accents to bring to the surface unfulfilled desires, falsely agreed compromises and profound insecurities. Choices must be made. The only question is: who’s going to make them?
Film details
- Country of production
- Germany
- Year
- 2008
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2009
- Length
- 93'
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
