GER25 What Marielle Knows

From writer/director Frédéric Hambalek, this scathingly funny comedy of manners centres on a tantalising premise: what would you do if your daughter could suddenly read your mind? Well-off young parents Julia (Julie Jentsch) and Tobias (Felix Kramer) and their daughter Marielle (Laeni Geiseler) appear to be the perfect bourgeois Munich family. Yet behind the facade, trouble is brewing: self-important Tobias battles with self-doubt, and tightly-wound Julia is wrestling with her attraction to a colleague. The fragile balance of the family is shattered abruptly when Marielle reveals an unwanted new ability to her parents: she is now able to see and hear everything that they do. At first incredulous, Julia and Tobias quickly realise their lies no longer hold water. As their secrets and self-deceptions unravel - with increasingly awkward consequences – the two become more acutely self-conscious and their relationship reaches breaking point. Sharply executed, What Marielle Knows is a fascinating exploration of hypocrisies and contradictions, as uncomfortable truths are revealed.