Go to the Requiem entry in our film database for cast information, trailer, poster, ratings, your comments and to buy the DVD.

---

In a quiet German town in the 1970s Michaela finally breaks free from her devout Catholic family when she gets permission to study Education at a university in another town. Since she was a child, she has suffered from epilepsy and a variety of doctors have tried to help her but so far without success. When she flushes her medication down the sink things start to go badly wrong and Michaela claims she hears voices who tell her not to touch the rosary and the cross. An exorcism is the only way out according to a priest from a nearby village and her devout mother seems willing to agree.  

Director Hans-Christian Schmid (Lichter/Distant Lights) takes a naturalistic approach to the harrowing story while evoking a distinctly 1970s style in production design and cinematography. The natural performances (led by Hüller but aided by Burghart Klaußner and Imogen Kogge as her parents and Nicholas Reinke as her boyfriend) are right at home in this almost documentary-like story which foregoes any cheap thrills for slowly but steadily built up dramatic tension and gravitas. The film’s finale is spine-chilling and only the intelligent screenplay, the cured direction and the impeccable acting are to blame. What a difference when compared to the recent Hollywood film The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which used the same true (German) story as its basis.

This film was screened as part of the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.

Buy the DVD at: amazon.de. 

Browse: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.fr, dvdGO.es, internetbookshop.it, nl.bol.com, allposters.com.