Tilman Singers cuckoo is a beautifully crafted and ingenious film that intertwines the secrets of a young woman with the possibility of a terrifying creature with a piercing and paralyzing scream in the Bavarian Alps. It is an imaginative gift to cinema and audiences and pulsates with the frenzy of female rage.
The film reminded me of those paranoid conspiracy thrillers from the 70s. It’s not just the plot and the machinations of certain characters, but also the set design, hairstyles and costumes of all the women except one. When the family arrives in Alpschatten, it’s as if they’ve traveled back in time, to a place where many strange things are possible. You get the feeling that something is always left unsaid, and as the film progresses, paranoia creeps up on the characters.
cuckoo has a devilish sound design that has a positive effect on your brain. The call of the “monster” affects the audience much like it does the characters in the film. The attack of the “monster” is instinctive and Tilman Singer has developed a devilishly clever method to make the attacks land right in the minds of the audience. The camera shakes and simmers with presence and the viewer is thrown into a time loop that is both disturbing and full of panic.
I admit that a time loop is actually a very terrifying experience for me. The terror of a repeated time loop that I have experienced is the feeling that events are completely out of your control and that reality is split into a single scene that repeats itself over and over. The worst moment is when you can’t tell if this moment you are currently trapped in will ever end. You are trapped in your own perception of reality that has somehow come to a halt in a short period of time.
This is the terror of cuckoo.
Hunter Schafer’s tender but tough Gretchen has a growing pain at her core but doesn’t hesitate to pull out her switchblade to deal with whatever comes her way. The basic concept of her character, the teenage rebel oppressed by uncaring family members, is made real and deepened by Schafer’s commitment to showing the character’s deep sadness and confusion at her father’s rejection while simultaneously having to cope with the loss of her life and her mother.
The actress delivers a multi-layered performance that shows all sides of Gretchen: the sullen, taciturn, seemingly indifferent teenager and the caring person who hides from her new family. Her appearance, her asymmetrical haircut and her modern musician’s clothing set her apart from her family and Mr. Koenig’s employees.
I love that I feel compelled to say again that the film is perfectly cast. Dan Stevens is charming and unintentionally funny as Mr. King, but the opposite of Gretchen. He’s also in hiding, but is less likable than he appears on the outside. Stevens adds another portrait to his wild collection of men carried away by their own hubris and in love with their own cleverness. His King exudes a captivating aura of comedic menace at all times. I found it very interesting that director Tilman Singer told the audience during the Q&A at the Vista Theater that King was originally going to be played by John Malkovich and that Stevens wasn’t cast until late in the process.
Jessica Henwick (Beth) and Greta Fernandez (Trixie) play two characters that could easily have been less interesting in the hands of other actors. They play the wife and the other worker at Alpschatten with a luxurious beauty and sensuality that most actors can’t even come close to. They are glamorous and seem to have stepped out of a 70s film. Marton Csokas has similar qualities in his portrayal of a father who is more focused on his new family than his eldest child. Not entirely unlikable, but rather selfish. His performance makes you wonder whose side he is on.
Mila Lieu, Alma, the child of the new family, is somewhere between the two groups but has her own strength when needed. Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Ed is a strong presence who knows what she wants. She embodies the freedom Gretchen longs for and is an older version of what Gretchen could become. Kalin Morrow as the hooded woman is mysterious, glamorous again but not entirely unsympathetic. Jan Bluthardt as Henry is the opposite of Mr. König, much more open and caring but hiding his own secrets.
The core of the film seems to be the differences between men and women. While both Gretchen and Mr. King are ruthless, Gretchen has a compassion for others and a willingness to trust that King does not have. When misunderstandings arise between women and girls, they can react with anger, but after some time, they seem much more willing to give others a second chance. Henry also seems compassionate, but is obsessed with destroying the “monster” and willing to harm others without considering who they are. It is the cooperation between the women, willing to believe in others as much as they believe in themselves, that leads them back to the light. Sisterhood is very important to survival.
cuckoo is a deeply terrifying fable about an instinctive, time-twisting terror embedded in certain horrific aspects of reproduction and the greed of humans who believe they can control nature and others without controlling themselves.
