Ramon Zürcher’s “dysfunctional family portrait” “The Sparrow in the Chimney” (“Der Spatz im Kamin”) has debuted a trailer ahead of its premiere in Locarno’s international competition.
Produced by his twin brother Silvan Zürcher for Zürcher Film, “The Sparrow in the Chimney” was co-produced by SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen / SRG SSR, while Cercamon handles sales.
In the film, Maren Eggert, Britta Hammelstein, Luise Heyer, Andreas Döhler and Milian Zerzawy star as family members preparing for a birthday party and getting more than a generous helping of cake once old traumas start coming to the surface.
Karen – played by Eggert, known for sci-fi romance “I’m Your Man” – lives with her husband Markus and their children in her childhood home. Her sister Jule and her family are visiting, but constant reminders of their deceased mother are impossible to shake off.
“I think these kinds of relationships and psychological abysses are my main interest. I have an interest in darkness and a family is a perfect setting for that,” Ramon Zürcher told Variety.
“I am not afraid of creating characters that are not ‘nice’ but to me, Karen isn’t just a ‘bad mother.’ She’s also a struggling, sensitive mother. There are many things I understand about her.”
Zürcher wanted to go one step further than in his previous film “The Strange Little Cat,” he admitted.
“In that film, the conflicts were passive aggressive and not very explicit. Now, I wanted to outline them in a more outspoken way. These people say these horrible things to each other, they can be so mean and yes, you almost have to laugh a little bit. Not because it’s funny, but because it’s so over-the-top. Sometimes, humor and sadness are like siblings. They influence each other.”
Experimenting with music – by Balz Bachmann – Zürcher decided to bet on contrasts, going from classical tunes to electronic madness.
“Contrasts are always interesting. The first time I saw ‘Mulholland Drive,’ a certain story was being constructed and then everything changed. My jaw dropped. Now, I show a nice house and perfect summer day, but inside, it’s so dark. I like to put different things together, hoping they will create something new,” he recalled.
“Reaching people is important. I don’t want to make things just for me, but I also don’t want to change who I am. Almost everyone has a family and hopefully that’ll help them connect. And it’ll allow me to experiment a little without losing them.”
As this family’s day keeps getting odder, and reality blends into fantasy, Zürcher turned to genre for inspiration.
“One sister says: ‘You are a monster.’ The other replies: ‘No, the monster is you.’ The horror genre is something I adore and this was a haunted house story. It takes place mostly inside, where the past co-exists with the present.”
Or where the presence of Karen’s strict mother is still very much felt.
“She is omnipresent. She’s a part of Karen, she’s in the stories they tell and in all these situations. It’s not a ‘loud’ horror film, however, although I like expressionistic imagery of the Italian giallo,” he said.
“Horror often takes certain psychological circumstances and ‘translates’ them into exaggerated situations, where there are monsters and things you have to destroy. Now, Karen has to conduct an exorcism, too. She has to get rid of that ‘demon’ of the past, of hidden desires that couldn’t be lived out. I see it as a story about liberation.”
And about a family that despite all the hardships can be reborn.
“Karen sheds her old skin – she rises like a phoenix from the ashes. Suddenly, she is a blank page again, without this heavy cloud constantly looming over her. From then on, everything is possible,” Zürcher pointed out.
“We have to remember that traumas don’t just stay in the past. You interact with them, live with them and learn how to make them invisible. But we shouldn’t just hide things – we should talk about them instead. That’s how you free yourself.”
The Sparrow in the Chimney
Credit: Alex Hasskerl