Auf Einmal

Following a party in Karsten’s flat, everyone goes home – except Anna. Karsten feels drawn towards the mysterious young woman. An unexpected event and a moment of weakness change everything, and Karsten loses control of his well-ordered life in a small town in Germany. Tensions in the family and in his circle of friends follow. His attempt to live life as if nothing has happened fails. Disappointment breeds rage and injustice, calamity takes its course and, just as Karsten thinks he has his life under control again, he has become a different person.
Berlin writer and director Aslı Özge prefixes her film with a quote from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” The film’s unassuming, carefully composed, well-lit images and fitting sound design creates tension which allows the audience to sense the growing unease and looming disaster. Questions of guilt and morality, justice and hypocrisy are addressed.