Berlin in the Romantic era. Henriette, the gentile wife of a middle-class businessman is propositioned by Heinrich, an idealist and a poet who decides to prove his capacity for love through the romance of a suicide pact.
Having been snubbed by his cousin Marie already, Heinrich is pleased when Henriette agrees to meet him in secret to deliver each other into love eternal in death.
With eye-popping cinematography, this deliciously humorous feminist period drama from Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner (Lovely Rita, Lourdes) is loosely based on the 1811 suicide of the Romantic poet Henrich von Kleist (Michael Kohlhass).
A masterclass in filmmaking subtlety, exquisite digital compositions match a flawless efficient script that deftly explores the idea of the (male) suffering artist, Prussian petit bourgeois attitudes and the restricted position of women in 19th century society.