Darlings:

Summary

Ole (Paul Boche) surprises his girlfriend Lena (Thea Rasche) with a secretly planned trip to the village of his childhood and youth, which he idealizes and romanticizes. Together with Ole’s younger brother Lasse (Tom Böttcher), the three of them set off from Berlin to the countryside.

DLena likes the quiet, wintery rural idyll far away from the noise and hustle and bustle of everyday city life. She also soon gets to know Ole’s childhood friends. At first, they are warm but also strangely rough in their interactions with each other and with Lena. Lena observes how Ole, surrounded by his old clique and engaged in brutal drinking games, gradually reveals traits she never knew he had. Ole, on the other hand, thrives in the group’s dynamic, which is characterized by latent violence, and begins to make plans for his own life. Plans in which Lena’s wishes will soon no longer be taken into account.

The film is based on a 20-page script and was developed in an intensive rehearsal process with the actors before and during filming—this approach gave the director the opportunity to reveal the inner worlds of the protagonists in a palpably authentic and unadulterated way.

Although conceived as a genre film, “Darlings” sees itself in the tradition of Berlin Mumblecore and thus also continues this special series of films curated by UCM.ONE under the distribution label Darling Berlin.

“Darlings” is a thriller/drama that explores hidden power dynamics between men and women and escalating violence in romantic relationships. As a result, there is no clear antagonist, but rather a slowly emerging threatening atmosphere, an all-encompassing unease that emanates from the winter village and Ole’s compulsion to control.

The film raises many questions that everyone is familiar with from their own relationships: What compromises do we make? What does our future together look like, and when is it better to just let go?