DVDebut for DARK FORTUNE, Stefan Haupt's quiet, psychologically astute drama of family, trauma, repression and loss

A very dear friend of mine, a psychologist whose life ended abruptly and far too soon, once told me that the children of psychologists are some of the most screwed-up people on earth. The doctor/parent may minister quite well to patients, yet for whatever reason(s), his/her own children are often in certain ways left at the starting gate. Why this should be -- the age-old choice of placing job ahead of family or maybe simple hypocrisy/denial -- may not matter as much as the fact that, all too often, this cliche proves true.

TrustMovies thought about his old friend and that theory while viewing the very fine, almost-new (2016) Swiss film, DARK FORTUNE, directed and adapted by Stefan Haupt from Finsteres Glück by Lukas Hartmann.

Herr Haupt (pictured at right), who gave us the unusual documentary/ narrative combo, The Circle, back in 2014, here offers up a film full of events -- seen or remembered and some of these truly awful -- in such a quiet, considered manner that he, along with his excellent cast, manages to preclude melodrama while still giving us the necessary drama, allowing us to feel all of the emotion that goes along with it.

Events include a horrendous car accident that destroys a family and leaves one orphaned child, a fight between relatives over the care of that child, an excellent psychologist who is given temporary care of the orphan, and her own family that is going through -- yep -- its own "children issues."

Dark Fortune covers a lot of ground, but its near-two-hour running time allows that ground to be explored properly. If you appreciate stories of family, trauma, astute psychology and believable resolution, you won't be bored and will finish the film is a state of pleasurable relief.

The role of the child is taken by the appealing and talented young newcomer, Noé Ricklin (above), who combines vulnerability, fear and anger into quite a personality. His psychologist and helper, Eliane, is played by Eleni Haupt (above and below) with such a strong sense of conviction and understanding that she'll win you over just as she does her young patient.

Slowly, carefully we learn more about the boy's departed family members, as well as his remaining aunt and grandmother, and simultaneously we meet Eleni's two daughters and her estranged second husband (a very good job by Martin Hug, below, right).

Together, these quiet, beautifully observed scenes build up quite a head of steam and emotion, mostly by not allowing the characters to do so. The tightly constrained script, direction and performances combine to create a tale of trauma, loss and family secrets. Most interesting of all is how the film's center of interest moves from one family to the other -- and then brings it all together via a kind of off-the-cuff, spontaneous psychology and therapy that not only seem believable but also work. This is an all-around lovely, moving job of movie-making.

From Corinth Films, in German with English subtitles and running 116 minutes, the film hit the street on DVD -- for rental or purchase -- this past Tuesday, June 23, and can also be seen via Amazon Prime Video.

Good Gaudí! Stefan Haupt's SAGRADA: Mystery of Creation offers up an unfinished masterpiece

As much as I love seeing the works of Spanish architect and artist Antoni Gaudí -- especially in movies such as Gaudí Afternoon and Unconscious -- I didn't know that much about the man and his life, not to mention practically anything about one of his unfinished works, The Sagrada Família in Barcelona, which has been under construc-tion since 1882 and remains today only maybe halfway completed. What a work it is -- and what an interesting docu-mentary filmmaker Stefan Haupt has made about it.

Herr Haupt (pictured at left) -- whose The Circle opened theatrically here in the USA only recently and has been submitted by Switzerland as its choice for Best Foreign Language Film -- is a Zurich-born filmmaker of talent and energy, both of which are on display in this movie about a rather amazing and enormous church that reaches to a height of nearly six hundred feet and also boasts multiple facades and multiple chapels within its apse. A late-career project for Gaudí, which the artist knew he was unlikely to complete, Sagrada Família was slowed down even further due to Gaudí's untimely death (by streetcar, of all things) and then even further by the Spanish Civil War. Even now, as this documentary explains, jockeying interests -- religious, cultural and (of course) business -- have delayed completion once again.

Still, SAGRADA: The Mystery of Creation takes the time and trouble to show and tell us the history of the architect, his country and his church, and in the process gives us a pretty good tour of the ever-growing facility. All this is brought to us by folk as different as modern day architects and sculptors, politicians, church men and even a famous musician/conductor/ composer (Jordi Savall, shown below).

One of the more interesting of these interviews and personalities is that of sculptor Etsuro Sotoo, below, who charms us initially as he explains why and how he is hitting the stone he is sculpting so very delicately: "I am asking the stone if I can hit it -- or not." Makes a certain sense, actually, as does the man's explanation of why he felt he must leave Buddhism for Catholicism, in order to place himself more in the shoes -- and spirit -- of Gaudí.

Not everyone is thrilled to see work continuing on the church, and certain questions arise: Should it be less religious? Should it look more -- or less --  like the building that Gaudí envisioned?  Ought it to be more "cultural" and less god-like? And through it all a waif-like dancer named Anna Huber appears to act as a kind of stand-in for the spirit of Gaudí himself, watching from various places and angles, as the building grows.

Government adds its two cents, as it tunnels under the very structure itself in order to build the upcoming hi-speed train that will run between Barcelo-na and Paris. But really now, did its route have to run exactly under this cathedral? Lots of questions occur during the course of the film but not so many answers. No matter. What's here should provide interest aplenty.

Sagrada: The Mystery of Creation, from First Run Features, opens this Friday, December 19 in New York City at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center -- after playing most of the rest of the country already. You can take a look at all playdates, past and future, by clicking here.

Narrative & documentary join as one in Stefan Haupt's entrancing history lesson, THE CIRCLE

Of late we're seeing more and more "re-creations" used in documentaries -- acted-out narrative moments, often entire scenes -- that goose the story along. Sometimes these are done well enough to almost pass by unnoticed (as in some of James Marsh's films such as Project Nim); at other times -- as in Holocaust-themed docs like Orchestra of Exiles or No Place on Earth -- these can seem more than a bit ham-handed and distracting. The new Swiss movie THE CIRCLE (Der Kreis) manages to bypass this problem entirely by embracing it completely: Stefan Haupt's new film is half documentary and half narrative, with the two beautifully woven together to make something that seems original and exactly correct for the subject it tackles.

That subject is the tale of two men living in Switzerland during and after WWII who become lovers, and the relatively small group of homosexuals of that time, dedicated to educating the general public, around and in which the two gravitate. As directed and co-written by Herr Haupt (shown at left), the film is helped enormously by the presence of the two men, still alive and kicking, who inspired the story: Ernst Ostertag and Robi Rapp  These two, lovers still, are shown as they are today (two photos below), while two attractive and talented actors -- Matthias Hungerbühler (at left, on the poster above and in the still below) and newcomer Sven Schelker (at right, above and below) -- play their younger selves in the narrative portion, which takes up more than half of this 102-minute movie.

These clear divisions, which turn out to meld quite richly and beautifully, actually give the movie more of a sense of "reality" than we sometime get from documentaries that pretend to be "truth" but then fudge things in various, sometimes less obvious, ways. The Circle is a hybrid doc that wears its manipulation proudly, and its great big heart on its sleeve.

The cultural state of Switzerland in the 1950s is articulately and genuinely rendered here -- it seems to me, at least, who was certainly not present at the time -- as not much better nor worse than most of the rest of the Western world at this time. Though homosexuality per se was not a crime in Switzerland, homosexuals themselves were pursued as though it was. And because the attitude of the general populace was negative, all this was accepted as perfectly fine.

The history of these two men, as well as the little group that they join -- The Circle of the title-- is captured in smart, lean strokes that tell us much while moving the plot along. Ernst, above, center, is a teacher who's up for "approval" and so must keep his sexuality hidden, while Robi, below, is a female impersonator (and a good one -- as is young performer Schelker), whom Ernst sees one special evening and is immediately smitten.

We meet the co-workers, friends and relatives of both men and learn how prejudice -- their own and others -- has affected them all. What a pleasure it is to see again German actress Marianne Sägebrecht (below, right, of Bagdad Cafe), here playing Robi's wonderfully caring mother.

The rest of the large cast, mostly unknown to me (we don't get that many Swiss films over here) are all on point and up to snuff. Their "unknown" quality, in fact, gives the movie just that much more of a documentary feel. The sub-plots -- Ernst's boss at his school is perhaps the most closeted gay of all, and this plays out in ways both expected and not -- are both germane and well-handled, avoiding the overly melodramatic at every step, while still maintaining our interest and good will.

The Circle -- Switzerland's probably very canny selection for Best Foreign Language FIlm in this years Oscar race -- is indeed a feel-good film, but it is also one that earns its status. Considering all that has happened to this pair over more than half a century, not to mention their deserved renown in Switzerland today, these men have every right to feel good -- grand, even -- and so will you, once you've seen their film. (The pairs, real folk, together with their actor counterparts, are shown below.)

The movie, via Wolfe Releasing, opens this Friday in New York City at the Quad Cinema; it will hit L.A. a month later on Friday, December 18, at Laemmle's Music Hall 3.