Venice 2014: The Council of Birds

Director: Tim Kröger
Cast: Thorsten Wien, Eva Maria Jost, Daniel Krauss
Length: 80 mins
Country: Germany

The Council of Birds (Zerrumpelt Herz), German director’s Tim Kröger’s debut feature film, screened in the 29th International Critics Week section of the Venice Film Festival, was, I felt, one of the best kept secrets of the event. At the time, whilst most people rushed to see Sivas, a competitor for the Golden Lion, The Council of Birds was shown in the tiny Sala Perla 2, possibly not expecting a huge surge of people. As I’m working the evening away in the press room (more likely gazing at a gorgeous sunset in the Adriatic through its massive windows), a German colleague tells me of this film, saying: “it will be fantastic, I guarantee you”.  I took his advice and made my way to it and… Indeed, he was right. So very right.

Germany, 1929. Paul Leinert (Thorsten Wien) receives an unexpected letter from his friend Otto Schiffman (Christian Blümel), a talented musician who, after an unsuccesful marriage in Berlin, has chosen a retreat in a forest cabin. Being invited for a visit, Paul is very keen to go – Otto’s newest symphony greatly intrigues him. Arriving in the cabin with his wife Anna (Eva Maria Jost) and Wilhelm (Daniel Krauss), a close friend, Paul discovers that Otto is nowhere to be found, and hasn’t been home for days. After an initial search, the company realise that something mysterious is happening. And, according to Paul, the birds in the woods seem to be chirping a song that’s incredibly similar to Otto’s symphony…

Now, I think it takes talent to show such a story without sliding into overused clichés of the mystery genre whilst maintaining the exciting suspense of it. Also, pacing it so that it keeps the audience intrigued by hinting at little details and thus moving the plot forward yet not rushing towards the finish. The Council of Birds manages all of these things. Elegantly filmed, slow-paced and beautifully written, it succeeds in creating a sense as if one was reading a well crafted short story coming from old continental Europe. Think Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse. The same sense of an overriding narrative, something that is grander than the unfolding story, the sensation of being allowed to peek at a small moment in time that’s incredibly nostalgic and forever lost. I’m thinking of the work Wes Anderson has done with The Grand Budapest Hotel, being immensely influenced by the works of Zweig and thus striving for a similar creative sensitivity. 

Elegantly filmed, slow-paced and beautifully written, it succeeds in creating a sense as if one was reading a well crafted short story coming from old continental Europe. Think Stefan Zweig, Thomas Mann, Herman Hesse. The same sense of an overriding narrative, something that is grander than the unfolding story, the sensation of being allowed to peek at a small moment in time that’s incredibly nostalgic and forever lost

One of the key players in the film’s atmospheric staging in the music. Utilising some of Richard Wagner’s best known instrumental pieces (one of which was recently heard in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia), Kröger masterfully uses their effect on the image to the maximum. Indeed, the music creates an imminent sense of doom, and event though much of the film’s action takes place outside – the characters take long walks in the forest looking for Otto – there is definitely a claustrophobic feel to it. Anna, Wilhelm and Paul are trapped in this situation, and they are beginning to realise that their weekend in the woods is going to affect their lives to a great extent. Maybe it was because of the similarity of the soundtracks that I couldn’t help but think of Melancholia: The Council of Birds shares a great deal of atmospheric similarity with von Trier’s film, wielding a sense of inevitable, inexplicable tragedy that is coming from somewhere that is beyond our perception or control. Human relationships are tense, and nature does not provide solace.

Indeed, I was charmed by this film; it immersed me in its Wagnerian universe, contained within a forest and a cabin, and even though I felt immensely curious, I did not want to see any clear answers to its plot mysteries. Fortunately, it is not striving for a climatic finish with a full resolution; rather, it hesitantly continues to tickle our curiosity. This hesitancy is the only thing I can hold against Kröger’s work as a director, but, seeing as The Council of Birds is his graduation work for the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, I must say, it is extremely impressive and well-produced. I’m more than sure that we will see more of Kröger in the future. 

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