Euphoria

For years, sisters Ines (Alicia Vikander) and Emilie (Eva Green) had no contact with each other. But then successful artist Ines receives an invitation from her sister to travel Europe together. Not knowing what to expect, she is initially very suspicious of Emilie. This only changes when they reach their destination: a fantastically beautiful estate, isolated in a remote clearing in the woods. When she learns why she invited Emilie here, her suspicion turns to anger. Only gradually do the sisters seem to be able to come closer here - but whether Ines can actually sympathise with Emilie's intentions seems questionable.

Swedish filmmaker Lisa Langseth ventures into difficult territory with her first English-language film, the drama Euphoria. She has embedded the story about the attempted rapprochement of two completely estranged sisters in a very unwieldy, depressing narrative that stands in stark contrast to the enchanting landscape of the Bavarian forests in which the film was shot. Long conversations are used to analyse the relationship with the father, the death of the mother or even Ines' isolation from the family. It's great acting and elegantly filmed. However, the script and the very melancholic staging ruin any form of entertainment value.

Maybe the film doesn't want to entertain at all, but only to make you think about life and dying. But again, other films have done that much better and more poignantly. The problem of Euphoria is that it remains emotionally undercooled despite its very intensely acting actresses. Langseth fails to make the characters in her story accessible to the audience. And that's really fatal, especially for a story like this. Because this way, the drama is exactly what it definitely shouldn't be with such a subject matter: Trivial.

Of course, even if you don't empathize with the characters, you'll be made to think. And yes, the heaviness that weighs on you after watching the film is definitely due to the building of a strong atmosphere. But it would have been nice if Eva Green and Alicia Vikander's great performances were also supported by a more emotionally involving production. Because this way, Euphoria is more about frustration than euphoria. Only with clear deductions worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp