Der Boden unter den Füßen

Gifted Austrian Writer/director Marie Kreutzer's coolly austere, immaculately shot 'The Ground Beneath my Feet' aka 'Der Boden unter den Füssen' is a starkly realised, earnestly acted, psychologically dense drama about single-minded, high-flying young business executive Lola Wegenstein (Valarie Pachner), and her older, mentally ill sister Conny (Pia Hierziger), long estranged from one another, Conny's attempted overdose of medication somewhat cruelly reunites them both, and the focused, work-orientated Lola soon becomes profoundly unsettled by her disturbed sibling's continued frantic, inchoate ranting, and as Conny is being treated in a psychiatric unit far from Lola's place of work, the once implacable Lola experiences increasing pressures balancing a demanding, high-pressure job, a passionate relationship with the strikingly beautiful Elise (Mavie Hörbiger), her boss, and weighty concerns for Conny's welfare begins to compound Lola's ever more precarious grip on reality. Director Kreutzer's handsome-looking, richly fascinating film has all the immersive intrigue of a meticulously wrought thriller with the additional ballast of an emotionally edifying drama, the performances are uniformly excellent, with especially forceful work from powerhouse Valarie Pachner, the refined photography is sublime, the frequently muted, glacial colour palate adding an oppressively grim verisimilitude to Lola's unhappy descent in her own rapidly debilitating depression, wherein work, love, and familial bonds start to deleteriously unravel into cognitive chaos. While 'The Ground Beneath my Feet' has an aesthetically cool veneer, it is far a from remote experience, being a nuanced, emotionally intelligent drama that deals explicitly with the devastating effects of mental illness in a bold, and wholly sympathetic manner.