Die Theorie von Allem

Johannes reist zum Kongress hochintelligenter Menschen in die Alpen, aber vor Ort passieren Dinge, die sein Verstand nicht begreift. Leider gilt das auch für meinen Verstand, weil ich in der verschneiten Landschaft in der zweiten Hälfte den Faden verloren habe. Dennoch kann man Timm Kröger nicht absprechen, dass es ihm gelungen ist, einen soliden Retro-Film-Noir mit einer intensiven Atmosphäre, einer zeitgenössischen musikalischen Begleitung, herausragenden Schauspielern und einer sorgfältig aufgebauten Spannung zu drehen. Nur das Drehbuch sollte beim nächsten Mal besser sein. [Viennale 2023] (04.11.2023)

This looks a bit like film-noir shot in the 1960s by Orson Welles according to a screenplay by Fritz Lang,  who played around with the subject of an enigmatic murder at an annual conference of theoretical physicists and twisted it into the form of a mysterious metaphysical sci-fi crime thriller set in the Swiss Alps. Among other things, the movie’s theme is based on the multiverse. Whereas other filmmakers often use the concept of the multiverse to build hectic stories packed with wild ideas, here it is conversely part of a loose, elliptical narrative intended for a more discerning audience. The film itself is a multiverse in terms of its visual and stylistic aspects, as various forms of black-and-white film from different decades come together here thanks to the camerawork and manipulation of light and shadows. However, the interestingly written characters interact with each other in an increasingly less coherent story that is already utterly unclear, especially in the last quarter of the film. Overall, The Theory of Everything is interpretively stimulating, but it also runs up against the limits of the viewer’s willingness to engage in inferring the connections and meaning in the intertwining of the individual storylines. (13.10.2023)

Stylized distinctively and effectively into the black-and-white works of the 1940s and 1950s, the film tells the story of a gifted physics student who arrives with his PhD at a scientific conference in a cozy hotel in the Swiss Alps. The conference comes to an untimely end, as does the life of one of the participants. And the strange events are far from over. The Theory of Everything throws everything into the blender – from film-noir to conversational drama, romance, detective story, conspiracy thriller to sci-fi and horror about metaphysics. And despite this fascinating list of genres, it flows very slowly and the viewer has to go through several dead ends to get to the final explanation. A difficult film to evaluate. I imagine that for a lot of viewers with a lowered patience threshold, it will just be "meh", but I actually quite liked it – with just a little editing and tweaking, it would have been a great film. (24.10.2023)