The Universal Theory

2023 [GERMAN]

Drama / Mystery / Thriller

4
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 71% · 31 reviews
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 1489 1.5K

narration jazz singer or musician black and white pianist swiss alps cinemascope

Plot summary

Johannes, a doctor of physics, travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Alps. A series of mysterious incidents occur on site. He meets Karin, a mysterious jazz pianist who seems to know more about him than she can know. Suddenly, mysterious deaths begin to pile up and Johannes tries to uncover the secret under the mountain.

Director

Timm Kröger Photo
Timm Kröger

Top cast

Dirk Böhling Photo
Dirk Böhling as Moderator
John F. Kennedy Photo
John F. Kennedy as Self
Olivia Ross Photo
Olivia Ross as Karin Hönig
David Bennent Photo
David Bennent as Kommissar Arnold
720p.BluRay 720p.WEB 1080p.BluRay 1080p.WEB
1.06 GB
1280*478
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles tr   us  
24 fps
1 hr 58 min
Seeds 1
1.02 GB
1280*478
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles tr   us  
25 fps
1 hr 53 min
Seeds 2
2.18 GB
1920*716
German 5.1
NR
Subtitles tr   us  
24 fps
1 hr 58 min
Seeds 3
1.89 GB
1920*716
German 2.0
NR
Subtitles tr   us  
25 fps
1 hr 53 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by CinemaSerf 6 / 10

The Universal Theory

Aspiring physicist "Johannes" (Jan Bülow) is traveling with his tutor "Strathen" (Hanns Zischler) to a conference in Switzerland, aware that his rather radical thinking has narked his professor who wishes him to conform to more established theories. Indeed things are distinctly tense between them when they encounter "Blumberg" (Gottfried Breitfuss) on their train. He has some past with "Strathen" which isn't exactly friendly, but they continue their journey together with the young man promised any help he needs to get his dissertation over the line. Once they arrive, "Johannes" gets caught up in one of the many storms that frequent their mountainside hotel and seeks refuge in a church. Likewise, a few moments later, does "Karin" (Olivia Ross). He's immediately smitten but she doesn't hang around for long enough to even exchange names. Luckily for him, she happens to play the piano in the hotel's jazz bar and so maybe a meeting can happen after all? It's almost simultaneous with their arrival that he starts to feel distinctively out-of-sorts. A sense of déjà-vu often seems to follow him as he feels he has met her before somewhere. Her bauhaus vacillates between the distant and (very) friendly, which he doesn't really comprehend either. Also, his timelines seem to be jumping about and when the avuncular "Blumberg" falls foul of a tragedy his befuddlement takes on an whole new life of it's own? What is going on here? It's as if the mountain has it's own secrets to keep? Is it all just too much wine? Or is there something more sinister going on? His is a mind of the rational and the scientific - ill equipped for matters ethereal or superstitious, so when the police come calling asking questions about the enigmatic "Karin", what can he make of it all? There are some quite intriguing threads to the story, here, as it tries to intertwine the factual with the less easily explicable and the snowscapes, frosty characterisation of "Strathen" and monochrome presentation add effectively chilling elements as the plot reveals a sense of the we know that we are missing something, but we don't know what it is, and we might never know. Unfortunately, Bülow is a bit weak to carry this off, and the annoyingly fragmented story flits about too much to give us chance to really get our teeth into it. Sure, it's quirky, unpredictable and requires us to think on more than one plain at a time, but I found it just didn't give me enough pitons to climb the mountain without sliding down far too often to square one. It does look good and does remind us that perhaps science hasn't all the answers, but I left feeling a little like "Johannes". Bemused.
Reviewed by hregaladoestevez-90396 5 / 10

A beautiful cinematography that gets lost a poor storytelling

Positive: Beautiful black and withe cinematography, mixing 50's -60's edition. Comparable to some Hollywood classics. The music also feeds the atmosphere with this noirish style.Negative: The storytelling. From the first scene, the director gives away the ending. The viewer knows the conclusion, and not only because it's a well explored subject in recent times, but because the main character say it. There are also characters that are totally irrelevant to the story. The director decides to smash the relationship between the 2 "main characters", to then explore the final days of the protagonist, which is also irrelevant, because we know it from the beginning.A good idea, poorly written/directed.
Reviewed by Irena_Spa 6 / 10

A mix of styles

I was carried away with the impression that the film would be special, but although it is special, it is not unique. Why? Well, it has a mix of many styles. As I see now, someone wrote in their reviews the same thing I think about this movie, that it is a mixture of some Hitchcock and Lynch style of story making and filming. The main factor of the story is the mystery. It starts you hoping to meet the unexpected, but then you come to a corner of boring and slow rhythm, when you lose that hope you had at the beginning. Nevertheless, the movie is not bad, but it could be better in some parts, like in those scenes in the snow where some facts are missing. I guess the author is a fan of quantum physics, astronomy and relativity and I appreciate that. :)
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