Requiem

In Hans-Christian Schmid's Requiem, Michaela (Sandra Huller) has grown up in a deeply religious family in a small town in Germany in the 1970's. Despite her long battle with epilepsy, she leaves home and secures her first taste of freedom while studying at the university. Her budding love for Stefan (Nicholas Reinke) and her friendship with Hanna (Anna Blomeier) crack open the shell of faith and family within which she had always felt secure and protected. The result is a breakdown. Not a normal epileptic attack, but a frightening rush of grotesque faces and voices. Afraid of being sent back home to her family, Michaela seeks help from a priest who reinforces her conviction that she is possessed. Though Stefan and Hanna beg her to seek psychiatric help, they are unable to break through the dense religious and moral ties binding Michaela to her family. This haunting indie drama from IFC is based on a true story.