Sleep is a German psychological horror film directed by Michael Venus. The script was written by Thomas Friedrich and Michael Venus. The debut film had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February 2020 in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.
Plot[]
The film tells the story of a daughter who wants to help her mother and uncovers an old family secret. Three generations of women are linked to a village community plagued by a string of suicides.
The 39-year-old Marlene has been tormented by violent nightmares for years: As a demonic figure, she is driving the residents of an unfamiliar low mountain range village insane. She recorded all of this in her dream diaries. When she happens to see pictures of the village of Stainbach in a travel journal, she recognizes this as the place where her dreams are set. She spontaneously drives there without telling her 19-year-old daughter Mona.
Arriving in Stainbach, Marlene feels the real consequences of her dreams: She learns that her dreams had frighteningly real consequences in the village. Marlene then suffers a breakdown, falls into a state of shock and is no longer able to speak. She is admitted to a psychiatric hospital and lies there in a deep, coma-like sleep. Her daughter Mona rushes to her aid. In Stainbach she meets the couple in whose hotel her mother lived. The two now want to help her find answers: What happened in Stainbach? What upset Marlene so much? Step by step, Mona uncovers the secret of her family. The young woman not only encounters resistance from the locals, but also black spots in the past of the idyllic village: Mona finds an explosives factory in the forest in which forced laborers died during the Nazi era. The young woman has to face the fight against the dark powers of the past - first in her dreams, but then the danger becomes real.
Cast[]
- Sandra Hüller as Marlene
- Gro Swantje Kohlhof as Mona
- Marion Kracht as Lore
- Josefin Schäferhoff as Young Lore
- August Schmölzer as Otto
- Benjamin Heinrich as Young Otto
- Max Hubacher as Christoph
- Martina Schöne-Radunski as Franzi
- Katharina Behrens as Bille
- Agata Buzek as Trude
- Andreas Anke as Wolfram
- Samuel Weiss as doctor
Production[]
Directed by Michael Venus, the script was written by Michael Venus and Thomas Friedrich. Cameraman was Marius von Felbert. The film was produced by Verena Gräfe-Höft, Junafilm and ZDF's Das kleine Fernsehspiel.
The shooting took place from April 8, 2019 to May 7, 2019 in Hamburg and at 43 locations in the Harz Mountains (Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Wildemann). The central location was the former sanatorium Erbprinzentanne, which becomes the Sonnenhügelhotel in the film. However, the film takes place in a fictional place.
The music was composed by Johannes Lehninger and Sebastian Damerius, Silke Olthoff was responsible for editing the film, and Lena Mundt was the set designer.
The budget was around 1.4 million euros. Funding came from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (production funding: EUR 180,000 in December 2017), from the German Film Fund (production funding: EUR 230,000), the Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund (EUR 40,000 for project development in November 2016 and EUR 350,000 for production development in November 2016). November 2017) and Nordmedia (production funding: 200,000 euros in August 2018). The distributor is Salzgeber & Company Medien. World distribution is in the hands of Global Screen.
Reviews[]
- 5.8/10 on IMDb
- 95% on Rotten Tomatoes
- 3.1 on Letterboxd
Awards[]
The film was nominated for the GWFF Best First Feature Award at the 2020 Berlinale. At the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival it was nominated for the audience award in the online competition.
