Egomania – Insel ohne Hoffnung

Caspar David Friedrich meets Nosferatu. Or (according to a synopsis): ‘Dr Faustus in the ice, a German story about the decline of civilisation in the tradition of the Nibelungs.’ Or: Christoph Schlingensief is in love with Tilda Swinton and films her, very jealously, in ultra-melodramatic settings with Udo Kier. He himself described EGOMANIA as ‘probably his most romantic and beautiful film. You can only cheat like that once.’ The title alone suggests: a very personal work, but as is so often the case with great works of art, any hint of closeness is defined by distance. - Viennale

‘If there was one film that rigorously treaded the truly thin ice that looks like new cinematic territory, it was this one.’ Peter W. Jansen