- 2015
- Strand Releasing
- 1 h 21 m
SummaryDirector Ulrich Seidl delves into yet another exploration of the dark underside of the human psyche with a look at Austrian basements fitted out as private domains for secrets and fetishes. No desire or proclivity is off limits to Seidl’s camera, which takes in the opera-singing gunslinger, the Hitler-loving brass band, a hunter of exotic species...
Directed By:Ulrich Seidl
Written By:Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl
In the Basement
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
User score
Mixed or Average
5.2
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
68
75% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 3, 2015
88
Cinema hasn't been this close to the dusty cogs of desire's machinery and unapologetic about pleasure since Pasolini.
Nov 5, 2015
83
Seidl uses the peculiar relationship of Austrians to their basements as a way to pick away at the cracks between our public and our most private selves. But it's an idea that is elevated further by his rigorous eye for composition and cinematographic portraiture that makes the even the most bizarre images beautiful, and fashions the film, which could feel very fragmented in that it jumps from subject to subject and back again, into a deeply engrossing whole.
Nov 5, 2015
80
Make of it what you will, this off-the-wall film essay entertains hugely while it makes the audience squirm in their seats.
Nov 5, 2015
70
Grabby and grubby in equal measure, this meticulously composed trawl through the contents of several middle-class Austrians’ cellars (a space, according to Seidl, that his countrymen traditionally give over to their most personal hobbies) yields more than a few startling discoveries.
Nov 3, 2015
70
Seidl's study reminds us, with each new basement, that the places where we're most ourselves might as well have grown off us like the shells of mollusks.
Nov 5, 2015
40
With In The Basement, [Seidl] seems to falling back on the same old shocks. The freakiness is losing its capacity to disturb.
Nov 3, 2015
40
Seidl is a filmmaker of both talent and merit, but the blatant manipulation of his subjects and the nakedness of his own intentions and dribbling fascination make In the Basement irrelevant as a comment on Austrian society as a whole, and only passingly interesting as an unsurprising picture of what some very odd people do in the privacy of their own homes.
User score
Mixed or Average
5.2
33% Positive
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Aug 19, 2023
6
Ulrich Seidl's In the Basement doesn't play it easy. While it may appear to extend its narrative beyond an optimal point, this documentary delves into surprising territories. It's particularly intriguing because the content oscillates between the disconcerting and the outrageous. Determining the line between reality and Seidl's orchestration contributes to the film's allure. More importantly the director never pretends to tell the viewer that what they are seeing on screen is 100% true and you would have to be very gullible to believe otherwise, so a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted. Seidl's approach is not to force anyone to express or explain themselves beyond what they describe, even with things that make you question more than one of the situations and objects his subjects talk about and show, but the concept while repetitive was quite interesting if not overly unimpressive. The film could have exhibited a greater degree of proactivity, but I wasn't disappointed.
Report
Production Company:
- ARTE
- Coop99 Filmproduktion
- Filmfonds Wien
- Land Niederösterreich
- ORF Film/Fernseh-Abkommen
- Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion GmbH
- Österreichisches Filminstitut
Release Date:Nov 6, 2015
Duration:1 h 21 m
Genres:
Awards
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
CPH:DOX
• 1 Nomination
BFI London Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
