On YouTube, I watched an upload of a 2006 German film titled Requiem, directed by Hans-Christian Schmid, and starring Sandra Hüller in her feature film debut in a film based on the life of Annaliese Michel, German woman who was allegedly possessed by six or more demons and died in 1976 of malnutrition, abused by her family and priests through forced exorcisms.
The film centers on Michaela (Hüller) a 21-year old woman in 1970s Germany who wants to study pedagogy in college to become a teacher, but her deeply Catholic mother is against it because Michaela lost a year of schooling due to a health issue. She goes to college anyway, makes a best friend with a finger classmate and has her first boyfriend, but is struggling with mental health issues, and secretly has epilepsy, but doesn’t want her parents to find out. She is caught between confusions with her religious faith, hearing voices in her head, and thinking she is possessed by demons, in part by a young priest planting the idea in her head.
I like how the film doesn’t play like a thriller or a horror film, but feels more like a quiet character study, and Hüller feels so natural in the part, being 28 at the time but able to play a younger, vulnerable woman caught in between her mother’s possessiveness and her need to be an independent adult. I heard of the film through Be Kind Rewind’s recommendations of notable actress performances, and really liked this film for its documentary-style filmmaking and her performance.
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