Bogumil Godfrejow's raw cinematography and (Sandra) Huller's poignant, close-to-the-bone performance transform what might have been a morbid curiosity into an entirely enthralling, quietly terrifying experience.
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10/20/06
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Requiem (2006)
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Reviews Counted:34
Fresh:30
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.4/10
Consensus: This harrowing, naturalistic drama holds you in its grip through Huller's intense performance.
Theatrical Release:Oct 18, 2006 Limited
Synopsis: Michaela has grown up in a deeply religious family, in a small town in Germany, in the 1970's. Despite her long battle with epilepsy, she leaves home and secures her first taste of freedom while... [More]
Starring: Sandra Huller, Burghart Klaussner, Imogen Kogge, Anna Blomeier
Director: Hans-Christian Schmid
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Reviews for Requiem
You won't find rotating heads and vomit in the exorcism movie Requiem. Instead, German director Hans-Christian Schmid relies on a frighteningly realistic performance by Sandra Huller as blue-eyed blonde Michaela.
10/20/06
Like The Exorcism of Emily Rose ... Requiem is loosely based on the real-life story of a West German woman who died in 1976 after a series of failed exorcisms.
10/19/06
Top CriticTakes the flashback sequences from Exorcism of Emily Rose, removes all the supernatural scares, and tries to keep you interested.
10/19/06
Just as haunting as a horror film and far more heartrending.
10/19/06
Top CriticProgresses in a natural, unforced style that's increasingly creepy and ultimately emotionally shattering.
10/18/06
This quietly unnerving psychological study from German director Hans-Christian Schmid wields its ambiguity about religion and science like a double-edged blade.
10/17/06
Top CriticHüller's master class in acting is not only a portrait of a holy creature frenzied by otherworldly spirits but a voluptuous reflection of the pressures that accosted so many women of her character's age, time, and devotions.
10/13/06
Sandra Hueller deservedly won an acting prize in Berlin (she could have taken home 'most conflicted character' as well).
09/23/06
The film is incisive about the all-too-mundane social, physical and emotional pressures exacted upon its heroine.
09/23/06
...never quite as compelling as Hüller's performance...
09/11/06
Requiem shows us with a sense of palpable reality (and without any special effects) what being -- or feeling -- possessed must be like for Michaela herself and her family.
04/25/06
[A] stunningly played story of faith vs. family.
04/25/06
Closely observed story of the mental and family pressures that can lead someone to accept an exorcism.
04/25/06
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