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TOTEM

by Jessica Krummacher

synopsis

A foreigner, Fiona is hired as a maid and nanny by a middle-class family living in the Ruhr region, the Bauers: a father, mother, teenager daughter dating a boy older than Fiona and a small child. Daily life is marked by precise rules and rituals and seems to pass normally between the swimming pool, family meals, idling in the garden and short walks. Discipline is imposed and reasserted perpetually. Yet very soon the family members’ neuroses and anxieties emerge, and roles and boundaries become distorted. In particular, the mother, suffering from early menopause, takes out her frustration and rage by treating two dolls as actual newborns, while the father, who is often away on business, has a morbid interest in Fiona that becomes increasingly more evident and dangerous.

original title: Totem
country: Germany
year: 2011
genre: fiction
directed by: Jessica Krummacher
film run: 86'
release date: DE 26/04/2012
screenplay: Jessica Krummacher
cast: Marina Frenk, Natja Brunckhorst, Benno Ifland, Alissa Wilms, Cedric Koch, Fritz Fenne, Dominik Buch, Irmgard Pethke
cinematography by: Bjoern Siepmann
film editing: Jessica Krummacher, Heike Parplies
costumes designer: Anna Wübber, Sarah Bernady
music: Marina Frenk
producer: Martin Blankemeyer, Jessica Krummacher, Philipp Budweg, Timo Müller
production: Arepo Media GmbH, kLAPPbOXfILME, Schlicht und Ergreifend Film GmbH, Münchner Filmwerkstatt, Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF)
backing: German Federal Film Board, Foerderverein der HFF Muenchen

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