Traumnovelle

Mostly known as the literary inspiration for Stanley Kubrick’s »Eyes Wide Shut«, Arthur Schnitzler’s “Dream Story« has never quite adequately and faithfully adapted to the screen – a failing that director Florian Frerichs has now rectified with his vibrant and lavish »Traumnovelle«. When his wife confesses to having had erotic fantasies about other men, the young physician Jakob embarks on a sensual quest of his own, letting himself be taken in by the Berlin nightlife, including all the strange situations and dangerous encounters this might entail – including a swanky erotic masked ball that he sneaks into, only to be discovered by his hosts and saved by the sacrifice of an unknown beauty. Moving the story from Vienna (Schnitzler) or New York (Kubrick) to Berlin, Frerichs makes the most of the city’s kinky netherworld, swanky locations and extravagant characters while staying remarkably true to the structure and vibe of the literary source-material. With an incredible cast he creates a cinematic dream within a dream of rare hypnotic quality that tantalizes, thrills and confounds in equal measure.