Berlin Syndrome(2017)

R
Rated R for disturbing violent content, strong sexuality, nudity and some language
1h 56m

Release Date: May 26, 2017 | Limited

A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist awakens in a Berlin apartment one morning and is unable to leave.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | May 26, 2017

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$22,916
Total US & Canada:
$28,660
Total International
$369,123
Total Worldwide:
$397,783

Current Showtimes

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(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Cate Shortland
Director

Christoph Franken
Peter

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: Australia,France

Language: English,German,Russian

Summaries

Plot Summary

The film opens with Clare arriving in Berlin, Germany as a young female tourist. She walks to her accommodation, a hostel with group bunking rooms and spends the evening partying with some people, possibly also tourists, on the rooftop. She takes photos of the sunrise and in the morning dresses and takes her backpack with her out sightseeing. She purchases some clothes, photo slides and takes photos in the street - one of a woman airing a colourful sheet out an apartment window. She visits a bookshop and takes interest in a book of artworks. Leaving the shop she follows out a man and they meet on the footpath waiting at a set of traffic lights. He drops his belongings and Clare assists him, after which a conversation sparks where he casually asks why she's travelling alone and offers her some strawberries. Clare goes with this man, Andi, to see the public garden where the strawberries grow. They talk and get to know each other, Andi mentioning it's a good place to "complicate life", Clare corrects him "contemplate life". Clare ignores a call from her mother. He drives her back to her accommodation where they nearly kiss. She invites him up for a drink at the bar and he declines.The following day Clare ventures out sightseeing again and looking for Andi who she finds in the same bookshop, looking at the book of artworks. They spend the day together. He drives them back to his place which is very quiet and desolate. His upstairs apartment is tucked away behind a locked building foyer, through a small enclosed courtyard into the building block behind. They spend the night and she talks about how much she'd like to stay rather than move onto her next destination Dusseldorf. In the morning he leaves for work, teaching at a local school. One student, Franka details a book the class was asked to read.Clare gets dressed, packs up a day pack and goes to leave discovering she is locked into the apartment. She cannot find a spare key and also finds the windows don't open. Believing this an accident she hangs in the apartment, making herself some food and waits for Andi to return. He arrives home where Clare explains she couldn't leave and he realises he forgot to leave a key for her which he finds in his pocket. She jokingly suggests "did you lock me in?" and he playfully replies "yes sure, but next time I'll tie you to the bed" and they have sex in the shower. They go out clubbing and she stays a second night. In the morning when he leaves for work he points out the key he's left for her on the dresser.She casually pokes around the apartment while cooking herself breakfast and finds the book of artworks from the bookshop. She opens it to her favourite page and finds a photo of her asleep with the word 'mine' written on her shoulder, resting in the pages. Bothered by this she also realises her necklace with her ring is missing - her mother had given her the ring to "hock and return home if she gets into trouble" but it also has sentimental value. She searches the apartment and begins to panic, discovering the key won't open the door, her mobile phone has no service, the other internal door is also locked, and none of the available windows open. Feeling in danger now she tries to break the window with a chair and finds a second, reinforced panel behind.When Andi returns she's waiting at the door and asks to leave but he won't let her past. He locks the door and confronts her about the broken window, telling her casually if she tries to break the window he will have to border them up. Now understanding the weight of the situation she pleads for him to let her go but he dismisses her concerns and hands her flowers and asks if she likes pasta. Frustrated at his insanity she bursts violently into a rage trying to kick and punch him but he subdues her and ties her to the bed explaining that no one can hear her screams, the buildings are abandoned. The camera pans out to reveal her screams are not heard from the street.The following day Andi visits his father who asks why he was late. Andi says he met someone and tells him about Clare. His father asks about Natalie, the girl he has been seeing and Andi tells him she returned to Canada.Andi returns to the apartment where he has continued to tie Clare to the bed on a plastic sheet. She is untied for a shower as she has urinated on herself, and finds clumps of long blonde hair in the drain - realising there has been someone here before her. He brings her home a puzzle and enthusiastically tells her he told his father about her and has texted her Mum that she is okay. Clare threatens that he mum will realise the truth. He continued to ignore her.The next day Andi leaves for work, leaving Clare untied and free to roam the apartment as she cannot escape. We see him lock the keys in a lock-box and leave it on a shelf in the building corridor. Clare searches the apartment, finding a screwdriver under the couch. At work, Andi is annoyed at a teacher who uses his cup from the communal kitchen, uncomfortable the woman empties it and washes it out.He returns home to find Clare doing the puzzle, he helps her and she takes the opportunity to stab the screwdriver through his hand resting on the tabletop, pinning him to the table. She grabs the keys and escapes down the stairwell and across the courtyard, but a clunky door jams and Andi catches her and crushes her hand in the door as she escapes through the front building, breaking her finger. He carries a passed out Clare back to the apartment.The following day he meets his father. When he returns home Clare tries to return calmness to the hostile situation. She continues to plead to him and tells him she misses her Mum but Andi tells her, there's no point missing something you won't get back, and that she has him instead. Andi constantly takes photos of Clare in odd and disturbed poses, usually naked.The next day Andi watches the female student, Franka in gym class, aroused. Meanwhile, Clare attempts to pick the door locks with a paperclip, snapping one off in the internal door, and worries Andi will discover her attempt. We see that Andi has locked all the sharp tools in the lock-box with the key. He continues to taunt and intimidate Clare both mentally and emotionally, moving between affection, possessiveness and cruelty. Andi is washing Clare in the shower when Franka knocks at the door. Andi threatens Clare that if she says anything, he will kill the girl. Andi answers the door and Franka flirts with him, stating she followed him home. Seeing Clare standing in a towel in the hallway, Andi tells her she's his girlfriend and is cruel to her so she leaves. Back inside the apartment Clare enquires about the girl, asking her name, and Andi cuts her hair - again photographing her. Later he discovers the internal door won't open and gets cross with Clare.We see time pass, it's now Christmas. Clare is living in terror, but as Andi continues to toy with her she begins to unravel and act out, Andi at one point asking her to be 'normal' and gets violent in his frustration at her behaviour, leaving to stay with his father. The power in the apartment goes out and Clare is stuck for days without power - it's freezing cold and she eats the little food she finds. Andi's father dies and upset, he waits a few days to call the caretaker, remaining in his fathers house. Clare finds another girls toenail trimming under the bed. Clare is relieved when Andi returns to the apartment a few days later. Andi was unaware of the power outage and tells him "she thought he wasn't coming back". She comforts him about his father's passing and they make love.Clare begins warming to the situation, cleaning, cooking, making an effort with her appearance, playing music. Andi gives her a book and his father's dog for Christmas. Clare asks the details of why he chose her and he explains he saw her in the street looking at the woman airing the sheet out the window, unveiling that he had planned their meeting in the bookshop. Clare asks about the previous girl, and we see a sudden shift in his affection for Clare, annoyed at her questions.Some time later, he takes her from the apartment into an isolated forest. He's carrying an axe. While Clare appreciates being outside finally he lifts his axe behind her. But a young boy shouts and runs over, interrupting, asking to help his brother who has hurt his leg. Surprised at their presence, Andi is distracted and Clare seizes an opportunity to try to alert the other boy, but he doesn't understand english and is frightened by her urgency. Andi notices and is angry at Clare. When the mother collects her children, Andi leads Clare back to the car and forces her into the boot, returning to the apartment. Andi now annoyed at Clare's presence and jealous of her relationship with the dog, takes the dog for a walk and doesn't return with it, stating it 'ran away'. Clare is alone again and heartbroken.While Andi attends a New Year's Eve party, Clare breaks into the locked room, finding his camera, a massage chair, and a photo album of Clare in captivity. Clare also finds an album of another girl, blonde, bound and abused in the same way. Andi attempts to lure another young female tourist, sparking conversation and using the same miss-wording he used with Clare, confusing 'contemplate life' with 'compensate life', but the girl leaves with her friend. Back in the kitchen, Clare notices a torchlight shining from another apartment across the courtyard and alerts the person to her distress, screaming and smashing the repaired window pane. A man reaches the apartment door nearly freeing Clare, but Andi returns and kills him with a hammer. Andi taunts Clare that it is her fault the man is dead and forces her to help wrap up the body which he burns in the coal pit in courtyard outside.The following day Andi cleans the blood and boards up the windows, punishing Clare. He notices a missing persons ad in the local paper, with Clare's picture and flustered asks Clare to pack her bags because he is fumigating the apartment. Clare notices student workbooks on the table that Andi is grading. She purposefully burns her hand and while Andi grabs some cream from the bathroom, she stashes away Franka's workbook.The following morning Andi tips out all the drinks and takes his and Clare's bags, leaving Clare behind in the apartment. Downstairs he stashes Clare's bag in the basement and turns off the pipes, leaving Clare without water. At school he hands out the workbooks and Franka finds a photo of Clare bound and gagged slipped between the pages. Without drawing attention to her discovery, Franka excuses herself from the classroom and flees promptly on her bike. The photo is found on the floor by the other students and panicked, Andi rushes back to the apartment, getting stuck in traffic. Andi finds Franka's bike outside the front building and sees where she has broken in through a basement window. He finds the hammer and the lock-box open in the courtyard, and a window in the building block open. The apartment door is open and Clare is gone. He follows muddy footsteps up the stairwell and we see him follow them past Clare hiding in a stairwell cupboard. Just as he reaches the room where Franka is hiding, Clare calls from downstairs, luring him back into the apartment. Once he is distracted inside, Clare manages to slip out and lock the apartment door with Andi now trapped inside.A wave of euphoric relief washes over Clare as she realises she is finally free from the apartment and Andi. Andi now pleading for Clare to free him from the apartment, she screams in victory, chucking the keys against the outside of the door, taunting Andi. She collects Franks and has found a bag with her passport and her mothers ring. The final shots are of Andi relaxing in his massage chair and Clare riding in a car through Berlin, passing tourists sightseeing, enjoying her freedom.

Storyline

While holidaying in Berlin, Australian photojournalist Clare meets Andi, a charismatic local man, and there is an instant attraction between them. A night of passion ensues. But what initially appears to be the start of a romance suddenly takes an unexpected and sinister turn when Clare awakens the following morning to discover that Andi has left for work, leaving her locked in his apartment. An easy mistake to make--except that Andi has absolutely no intention of releasing her. Ever. Eager to have a thrilling backpacking adventure, young Australian photographer Clare leaves her real-estate company in search of life experiences and self-discovery in the unknown streets of Berlin. Before long--while admiring the strict former GDR's architecture--Clare accidentally bumps into charming, mild-mannered high-school English teacher Andi, and although he is a perfect stranger, something in his gentle ways sets the stage for an innocent flirtation in the hassle of the big city. However, when morning comes--as a happy Clare wakes up in Andi's vacant house at a somewhat dilapidated tenement building--an unsettling discovery awaits her, as she comes to realize that, instead of being his guest, she is a vulnerable caged bird kept inside a reinforced prison designed to never set her free. How could Clare ever have trusted that snake in the grass? — Nick Riganas Alone and adrift in Berlin, Australian photographer Clare (Palmer) meets charismatic local Andi (Riemelt), and there is an instant attraction between them. But what begins as a passionate romance takes a sinister turn when Clare wakes up one morning to discover Andi has locked her in his apartment, and he has no intention of letting her leave. Ever.