Welcome To Movie Recall. In Today's video, we will be going through the 2017 thriller-horror
film : “Berlin Syndrome”. It's Time To Recall.
Let's Get Started. Turn On Subtitles and Spoilers Ahead!
The film opens with Clare arriving in Berlin, Germany, as a young female tourist. She walks
to her accommodation, a hostel with group bunking rooms and spends the evening partying
with some people, possibly also tourists, on the rooftop. She takes photos
of the sunrise and in the morning dresses and takes her backpack with
her out sightseeing. She purchases some clothes,
photo slides and takes photos in the street - one of a woman airing a colorful sheet out an
apartment window. She visits a bookshop and takes
interest in a book of artworks. Leaving the shop,
she follows out a man and they meet on the footpath waiting at a set of traffic lights.
He drops his belongings and Clare assists him, after which a conversation sparks
where he casually asks why she's travelling alone and offers her some strawberries.
Clare goes with this man, Andi, to see the public
garden where the strawberries grow. They talk and
get to know each other, Andi mentioning it's a
good place to "complicate life", Clare corrects
him "contemplate life". Clare ignores a call from her mother. He drives her back to her
accommodation where they nearly kiss. She invites
him up for a drink at the bar and he declines. The following day Clare ventures out sightseeing
again and looking for Andi who she finds in the
same bookshop looking at the book of artworks. They spend the day together.
He drives them back to his place which is very
quiet and desolate. His upstairs apartment is
tucked away behind a locked building foyer, through a small enclosed
courtyard into the building block behind. They spend the night and she talks
about how much she'd like to stay rather than move onto her next destination
Dusseldorf. In the morning he leaves for work,
teaching at a local school. One student, Franka details a book the class was asked to read.
Clare gets dressed, packs up a day pack and goes to leave discovering she is locked into
the apartment. She cannot find a spare key and also finds the windows don't open.
Believing this an accident she hangs in the apartment, making
herself some food and waits for Andi to return.
He arrives home where Clare explains she couldn't leave and he realises he forgot
to leave a key for her which he finds in his pocket. She jokingly suggests
"did you lock me in?" and he playfully replies "yes sure, but
next time I'll tie you to the bed" and they make out in the shower. They
go out clubbing and she stays a second night. In the morning when he leaves for work he points
out the key he's left for her on the dresser. She casually pokes around the apartment while
cooking herself breakfast and finds the book of
artworks from the bookshop. She opens it to her favorite page and finds a photo of her asleep
with the word 'mine' written on her shoulder, resting in the pages.
Bothered by this she also realises her necklace with her ring is missing.
Her mother had given her the ring to "hock and
return home if she gets into trouble" but it also
has sentimental value. She searches the apartment
and begins to panic, discovering the key won't open the door,
her mobile phone has no service, the other internal door is also locked, and none
of the available windows open. Feeling in danger
now she tries to break the window with a chair and finds a second, reinforced panel behind.
When Andi returns she's waiting at the door and asks to leave but he won't let her past.
He locks the door and confronts her about the broken
window, telling her casually if she tries to break the window he will have to border them up.
Now understanding the weight of the situation she
pleads for him to let her go but he dismisses her
concerns and hands her flowers and asks if she
likes pasta. Frustrated at his insanity she bursts
violently into a rage trying to kick and punch
him but he subdues her and ties her to the bed explaining that no one can
hear her screams, the buildings are abandoned. The camera pans out to
reveal her screams are not heard from the street.
The following day Andi visits his father who asks why he was late.
Andi says he met someone and tells him about Clare. His father asks about Natalie,
the girl he has been seeing and Andi tells him she returned to Canada.
Andi returns to the apartment where he has continued to tie Clare to
the bed on a plastic sheet. She is untied for a shower as she has
urinated on herself, and finds clumps of long blonde hair in the drain, realising there has
been someone here before her. He brings her home
a puzzle and enthusiastically tells her, he told his father about her and has
texted her Mum that she is okay. Clare threatens that her mum will
realise the truth. He continued to ignore her. The next day Andi leaves for work, leaving Clare
untied and free to roam the apartment as she cannot escape. We see him lock the keys in
a lock-box and leave it on a shelf in the building corridor. Clare searches the apartment,
finding a screwdriver under the couch. At work,
Andi is annoyed at a teacher who uses his cup from the communal kitchen,
uncomfortable the woman empties it and washes it out.
He returns home to find Clare doing the puzzle, he helps her and she takes the opportunity to
stab the screwdriver through his hand resting on the tabletop, pinning him to the table.
She grabs the keys and escapes down the stairwell
and across the courtyard, but a clunky door jams
and Andi catches her and crushes her hand in the door as she escapes through
the front building, breaking her finger. He carries a
passed out Clare back to the apartment. The following day he meets his father. When
he returns home Clare tries to return calmness
to the hostile situation. She continues to plead to him and tells him she misses her Mum
but Andi tells her, there's no point missing something you won't get back, and that she
has him instead. Andi constantly takes photos of Clare in odd and disturbed poses,
usually naked. The next day Andi watches the female student,
Franka in gym class, aroused. Meanwhile, Clare attempts to pick the door locks with a
paperclip, snapping one off in the internal door,
and worries Andi will discover her attempt. We see
that Andi has locked all the sharp tools in the
lock-box with the key. He continues to taunt and intimidate Clare both
mentally and emotionally, moving between affection, possessiveness
and cruelty. Andi is washing Clare in the shower when Franka knocks at the door. Andi
threatens Clare that if she says anything, he will kill the girl. Andi answers
the door and Franka flirts with him, stating she followed him home. Seeing
Clare standing in a towel in the hallway, Andi tells her she's his girlfriend and is cruel
to her so she leaves. Back inside the apartment
Clare enquires about the girl, asking her name, and Andi cuts her hair,
again photographing her. Later he discovers the internal door
won't open and gets cross with Clare. We see time pass, it's now Christmas. Clare
is living in terror, but as Andi continues to toy with her she begins to unravel and act out,
Andi at one point asking her to be 'normal' and
gets violent in his frustration at her behavior, leaving to stay with his
father. The power in the apartment goes out and Clare is stuck for days
without power. It's freezing cold and she eats
the little food she finds. Andi's father dies and this
upset him , he waits a few days to call the caretaker,
remaining in his father's house. Clare finds another girls toenail trimming under the bed.
Clare is relieved when Andi returns to the apartment a few days later.
Andi was unaware of the power outage and tells him "she thought
he wasn't coming back". She comforts him about his father's passing and
they continue to have sex. Clare begins warming to the situation, cleaning,
cooking, making an effort with her appearance,
playing music. Andi gives her a book and his father's dog for Christmas.
Clare asks the details of why he chose her and he explains
he saw her in the street
looking at the woman airing the sheet out the window, unveiling that he had planned
their meeting in the bookshop. Clare asks about
the previous girl, and we see a sudden shift in his affection for Clare,
annoyed at her questions. Sometime later, he takes her from the apartment
into an isolated forest. He's carrying an axe.
While Clare appreciates being outside finally he lifts his axe behind her. But a young boy
shouts and runs over, interrupting, asking to help his brother who has hurt his leg.
Surprised at their presence, Andi is distracted and Clare seizes an opportunity
to try to alert the other boy, but he doesn't understand english and is frightened by her
urgency. Andi notices and is angry at Clare. When the mother collects her children,