Victoria

Synopsis

Victoria, a young woman from Madrid, meets four local guys outside a nightclub. Sonne and his friends are real Berliners who promise to show her a good time and the real side of the city. But these boys have got themselves into hot water: they owe someone a dangerous favour that needs repaying that evening. As Victoria’s flirtation with Sonne begins developing into something more, he convinces her to come along for the ride. As the night rolls on, what started out as a good time, quickly spirals out of control. As dawn approaches, Victoria and Sonne realise it’s all or nothing and they abandon themselves to a heart-stopping journey into the depths of the night.

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Director

Sebastian Schipper
Director's statement: This film is not a movie; it’s not about a bank robbery. It is bank robbery. Victoria was shot in one single take. Two hours and fourteen minutes. No cuts. No cheap tricks. No expensive ones either. Just one shot. On 27 April 2014, we started the camera a little after 4:30am in a club we’d built ourselves (in order to keep locations close to each other), and after 2 hours and 14 minutes – after we’d run, walked, strolled and climbed through 22 locations, had more than 150 extras handled by 6 assistant directors and seven actors followed in succession by 3 sound crews - we were done - at 06:54 am. The sun had slowly risen while we filmed, and Laia Costa finally walked away from our cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, who looked like he had just run a marathon. Well, he had. We all had. Why did we do it? It’s crazy. A little stupid, too. Well, why do people rob banks? For the money! Of course! But maybe it’s not the only reason. The first thought I ever had about this project was that I realised that in my life I would never rob a bank. And I didn’t like the thought. I believe it would be an experience like no other. Not hurting, wounding or even kidnapping people, but to enter a zone – dark and full of fear – to take a gun and demand everything, right away. To receive – not because you deserve it; not because you behaved well or worked hard – but to fast forward and demand it all: Right now! Right here! Hemingway wanted to shoot an elephant. He knew it was the ultimate sin, but he did it anyway. Or maybe that’s why he did it. So, there it was: the idea to rob a bank; and the knowledge that we weren’t robbers but filmmakers. But what if we were to shoot the entire film in one single take? The hour before the robbery – and the hour afterwards? That’s how we meet the characters, hear their stories, feel their hopes, their despair, their urge to do one defining thing, one thing that will change it all. And also: why is it that there are so many films about bank robberies, and yet so very few that really make you feel the experience? And isn’t that, at heart, what it’s really about? Not the robbery. Not a movie about a robbery. Not even a movie about a robbery without a cut. But... the trip. And the more I think about it, the more I believe that’s why we even watch films to begin with: deep down it’s not about stories, action, jokes and characters, but about going somewhere and doing the undoable, demanding it all - Right now! Right here!

Cast

Laia Costa: Victoria Frederick Lau: Sonne Franz Rogowski: Boxer Burak Yigit: Blinker Max Mauff: Fuss

Crew

Sebastian Schipper: Director / writer / producer Sturla Brandth Grovlen: Director of Photography Olivia Neergaard-Holm: Writer #2 Eike Schulz: Writer #3 Nils Frahm: Music Jan Dressler: Producer #2 Anatol Nitschke: Producer #3 Catherine Baikousis: Producer #4 David Keitsch: Producer #5 Dr. Barbara Buhl: Co-producer #1 Andreas Schreitmuller: Co-producer #2 Ires Jung: 1st Assistant Director Steffen Leiser: Production Manager Toni Jaschke: Location Manager Uli Friedrichs: Production Designer Magnus Pfluger: Sound Recording Suse Marquardt: Casting #1 Lucie Lenox: Casting #2 Iris Muller: Casting #3 Stefanie Jauss: Costume Designer Fabian Schmitt: Sound Designer Matthias Lempert: Sound Mixer

Details

Production year: 2015 A MonkeyBoy production in co-production with Deutschfilm and Radical Media and with WDR and ARTE. DVD catalogue number: ART781DVD Blu-ray catalogue number: ART177BD DVD and Blu-ray special features: -Audio commentary with director Sebastian Schipper -Casting scenes -Camera test -Trailer

Awards

Winner of the 2015 Berlin Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography

Downloads

Victoria-production-notes.pdf

Out now on DVD, Blu-ray & on demand

GENRE: Drama, Thriller, Crime

CERTIFICATE: 15

DIRECTOR: Sebastian Schipper

CAST:
Laia Costa: Victoria
Frederick Lau: Sonne
Franz Rogowski: Boxer
VIEW ALL

CREW:
Sebastian Schipper: Director / writer / producer
Sturla Brandth Grovlen: Director of Photography
Olivia Neergaard-Holm: Writer #2
VIEW ALL

DURATION: 138 Mins

COUNTRIES: Germany

LANGUAGES: English, German

AWARDS:
Winner of the 2015 Berlin Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography

Where to watch

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Reviews

“A stunning cinematic achievement… grips from the first compelling frame to the last”

Liz Beardsworth, Empire
“Dazzling”

Tim Robey, The Telegraph
“Sebastian Schipper’s extraordinary thriller is no mere stunt but an immersive experience whose gripping performances and technical innovation make it hard to shake”

Nigel M Smith, The Guardian
“An authentic piece of cinematic magic... as adrenaline-charged as any mainstream action cinema”

Jonathan Romney, The Observer
“An electrifying slice of cinema that is likely to be frequently imitated, but rarely improved upon”

Eddie Harrison, The List
“Exhilarating... If Luc Besson had somehow been born the third Dardenne brother, the trio might have produced something like this”

Guy Lodge, Variety

Articles

Victoria - The Berliner Sessions

Get a taste of Berlin's nightlife

Secret Cinema X brings Berlin to South London

i-D

Director Sebastian Schipper

Interview with The Independent

Have your say

A magnificent piece of film making

BY: David Marsh

07.04.2016

Victoria from writer director Sebastian Schipper is a magnificent piece of film making both for its technical achievement but also its atmospheric and character focussed storytelling. The film open... Read more

A magnificent piece of film making

BY: David Marsh

07.04.2016

Victoria from writer director Sebastian Schipper is a magnificent piece of film making both for its technical achievement but also its atmospheric and character focussed storytelling. The film opens with a cacophony of sensory stimulation, an entrancing and visceral pulsating electronica soundtrack, strobe lighting effects and distant chattering voices; an edgy but familiar scene of the modern Berlin nightlife. Shot in real time, in one take, we find ourselves thrust into a series of highs and lows and everything else in between; the camera almost never leaving the side of our protagonist for the entirety of the films running time. Victoria is a Spanish national living and working in Berlin. At the end of a night out clubbing, she meets a group of local lads who are struggling through their drunken antics to gain access to the same nightclub she is leaving. The most talkative of the group, Sonne, notices Victoria and they strike up a conversation. While at first this encounter seems tense, we soon realise they are being friendly enough, and the group continue to celebrate one of the gangs birthday on a nearby rooftop. At the heart of the story is the relationship between Victoria and Sonne. The improvised nature of the script allows for a much freer flowing kind of dialogue, and due to the nature of the camera work, the conversations feel more personal. The complexity of the relationships between the group are also explored, as events unfold, friendships and loyalties are stretched, and decision making blurs the lines of right and wrong. There is definitely a vibe of the anti-hero here present, none of the group are inherently bad but circumstance has led them to this point. In this sense, Victoria is a fascinating study of fate, chance and loyalty. Berlin, just as much a character itself, is shot in a whirlwind of activity, the shallow depths of field blurring out any discernible or generic identifiers. Moreover the city is about atmosphere, and Victoria has heaps. As the frantic intoxicating feeling of the early morning events come to a head a brief moment of pause. The emblazoned slogan on Victoria's baseball cap says it all; #Haze.
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The Guardian

Out now on DVD, Blu-ray & on demand

The film

Synopsis

Director

Cast

Crew

Details

Awards

Downloads

Where to watch

Videos

Poster

Reviews

“A stunning cinematic achievement… grips from the first compelling frame to the last”

“Dazzling”

“Sebastian Schipper’s extraordinary thriller is no mere stunt but an immersive experience whose gripping performances and technical innovation make it hard to shake”

“An authentic piece of cinematic magic... as adrenaline-charged as any mainstream action cinema”

“An electrifying slice of cinema that is likely to be frequently imitated, but rarely improved upon”

“Exhilarating... If Luc Besson had somehow been born the third Dardenne brother, the trio might have produced something like this”