Thomas der Hochspringer

For Thomas, it’s all about sport. The young high-jumper sticks to the uncompromising training and dietary regime at a sports camp. We soon learn that this is creating an unhealthy situation – to put it mildly. It’s clear from the start that there’s something very wrong in this boy’s life. Not only does he regularly lock himself away to self-harm, or practise leaving a voice-mail for his absent father – the military-style control exercised by his mother, Margot, is absolutely suffocating. Both for Thomas, and for the viewer. The latter is thanks in part to the alienating film style used by debut director Leri Matehha. This distinctive stylisation in Thomas der Hochspringer has a tragicomic quality, similar to the films of Roy Andersson, although here the undertone is even more excruciating. We are left with the big question: how high exactly can Thomas jump? (International Film Festival Rotterdam)