An unusual story of a triangular relationship in Vienna. A woman shares an apartment with a man named Malina. The woman meets Ivan and falls under his spell. It will be her last great passion. Her feelings are so strong and all-encompassing that Ivan can neither understand nor return them.
Acting
Huppert's slow-motion breakdown is masterclass in controlled chaos.
Direction
Schroeter stages everything like a waking nightmare you can't escape.
Production
Vienna as gilded cage — every room feels like a trap closing.
Director
Werner Schroeter
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Ingeborg Bachmann's unfinished novel, written after her own tumultuous relationship with Max Frisch. The book's fragments mirror the film's fractured psyche.
Schroeter originally wanted to cast two different actors as Malina and Ivan to literalize their opposition, but settled for making Mathieu Carrière's Malina so ethereal you question his physical existence.
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