I WAS AT HOME, BUT… (ICH WAR ZUHAUSE, ABER…) World Cinema

Angela Schanelec’s cryptic, disjointed and enigmatic winner of the Silver Bear for Best Director award at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival takes place two years following the death of Astrid’s (Maren Eggert) husband. As Astrid attempts to maintain a sense of stability, the disappearance of her 13-year-old son Phillip and his sudden return plunge the household into quiet crisis. Familial trauma is premise to a series of defiantly fragmented vignettes: Astrid attempts to purchase a second-hand bicycle, her son and his classmates stage a production of Hamlet, two teachers discuss their relationship, a dog, a rabbit and a donkey. A formally daring interpretation of helplessness in the face of loss, I WAS AT HOME, BUT… secures Schanelec’s role as a leading voice in contemporary German cinema. –Malin Kan