Austria 2024
Opening November 28, 2024
Directed by: Iván Sáinz-Pardo
Writing credits: Florian David Fitz, Iván Sáinz-Pardo, Torben Struck
Principal actors: Florian David Fitz, Julia Koschitz, Friedrich Mücke, Lucia Barrado
Paul (Florian David Fitz) and Sophie (Julia Koschitz) are a couple. Paul has invited his friend Mia (Lucia Barrado) to meet them in a bar. Sophie originally wanted to invite her friend Andi, but this didn’t work out and Lukas (Friedrich Mücke) will come instead. Due to serious conversations about jobs, their relationship, and family secrets, Paul and Sophie can’t seem to be able to get out of the house for their gathering. Sophie falls down the stairs, which makes their arrival even more difficult. In the meantime, Lukas and Mia have become acquainted in the bar. They talk; soon they kiss and become more intimate. Finally, sixty-three minutes into the ninety-minute film, the four of them are together, to end up at the home of Paul and Sophie, where they reorganize in several different ways, including the men kissing each other. Three months later we get a hint of the final results.
“Vierer” translates to “foursome” in English and opens with Paul sitting on the toilette brushing his teeth. Sophie has a good job. Paul likes his mixing machine in the kitchen. They have a son. We learn about Andi and his “relationship” with Sonia, although he never appears. All four excellent actors make a “normal” story of uniting, separating, loving, cheating, reorganizing, etc., into something special. Der Vierer is being presented as a relationship comedy, but these problems could be very serious in real life, even sad. We recognize the situations and think: how did I solve them? Der Vierer is based on the 2019 Spanish film Amor en polvo.(Becky T.)