The Sparrow in the Chimney
Karen lives with her husband Markus and their children in her idyllic childhood home. Karen’s sister Jule and her family are visiting for Markus’ birthday. The two women could not be more different. Grim reminders of their deceased mother incite Jule’s rebellion against her domineering sister. As the house gradually fills with life and a sparrow in the chimney seeks a way out to freedom, Karen becomes increasingly tense – until it all comes to a head and the old is destroyed to make room for the new.
As a follow-up to the multiple award-winning festival hits THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT and THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER, the Swiss twin brothers Ramon and Silvan Zürcher, in their third film - which comes as the final instalment of the "animal trilogy" - once again tell of human coexistence in a very unique way. At times staggeringly forceful, at others poetically sensitive and humorous and with a brilliant cast, THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY plunges into the abysmal cosmos of a family and between hidden desires and secrets, sets alight a fire, blazing and renewing.
Director & Cast
- Director: Ramon Zürcher
- Starring: Maren Eggert
- Starring: Britta Hammelstein
- Starring: Luise Heyer
- Starring: Andreas Döhler
- Starring: Milian Zerzawy
Where to Watch
Trailer
Photos
Reviews
- "While the writer/director maintains the strong sense of everyday relationships and realism from his previous films, his more ambitious approach pays off to deliver an emotionally volatile portrait of a family in flux, complete with ambiguous motives and unexpected transformations."
- "More heated than their first two features, this darkly engrossing psychodrama of pent-up domestic tensions should be an arthouse breakthrough for Switzerland's gifted Zürcher brothers."
- "Ramon Zürcher’s utterly distinctive talent for twisting the domestic into the uncanny gains intensity in a cutting psychological horror as thrilling as it is elliptical and dark. German actress Maren Eggert, who also starred in Angela Schanelec’s 2019 festival darling I Was at Home, But, is enigmatic and mesmerizing to watch as Karen."
- "Incredibly original, and directed with great pathos, The Sparrow in the Chimney is bolstered by inventive use of effects (…) The Sparrow in the Chimney is a work of tremendous beauty and fragility."
- "Zürcher’s blocking is precise and continually inventive, seeking to disrupt the established boundaries between different characters in order to complicate their behavior and interactions with each other. "
- "[A] truly exceptional but profoundly disconcerting family drama. Maren Eggert and Britta Hammelstein deliver spellbinding performances playing polar opposites."
- "With metaphysical turns, ‘The Sparrow in the Chimney’ is an exquisitely controlled drama whose formal rigor belies sorrow, mystery, and hope."
- "It’s hard to imagine a better ending to the Zürchers’ trilogy, as they’ve realized a credo that more commercial filmmakers have always known: subtlety is no match for an explosion."
- "Maren Eggert gives a captivating turn as a woman who fears she’s become her mother in Ramon Zürcher’s inspired take on a haunted house film. Filled with a sense of dread that won’t be uncommon to some in how they approach their own family reunions, “The Sparrow in the Chimney” offers the same sense of relief when it’s all over, not only because of the wrenching drama it depicts, but the fresh air of its singular storytelling."
- "With its deep, bold dives into the nightmarish and the surreal, The Sparrow in the Chimney is that rare film that feels like a catharsis for protagonist and director both."
- "The Sparrow in the Chimney is a bold and thoughtful conclusion to the animal trilogy.... What begins as a Chekhovian drama evolves into a Freudian spectacle, ultimately becoming a surreal and cynical reflection on family life, not for the faint of heart."
- "A kind of dystopic fairy tale with horror film overtones, the movie transports the audience to a cruel but sincere world where people have freed themselves from the dictates of a society intent on assigning roles to each of us at birth, and are finally discovering their true, wild, defiant, animal nature."
- "A film dipped in venom, often funny and deeply unsettling in how it portrays families who don’t feel the need to hide their vitriol behind pleasantries."
Best Film
Locarno Int'l. Film Festival
People's Choice Award
Pingyao Int'l. Film Festival
Best Film
Pingyao Int'l. Film Festival
Melbourne Int'l. Film Festival
Vancouver Int'l. Film Festival