The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Berlin Syndrome
Drama · Horror · Mystery · 2017
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in an abandoned Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.
Movie details
Berlin Syndrome
“When passion becomes possession.”
2017 Drama · Horror · Mystery 1h 56m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.0 / 10
Community rating
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in an abandoned Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Berlin Syndrome?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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An American school teacher in England drives past an abandoned car late one night, unaware that the driver was the victim of a murder. As she comes to terms with the realization, seemingly supernatural events start to affect the gothic manor she lives in with her husband.
The Return
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Nocebo
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A fashion designer suffers from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
The Midnight Meat Train
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A photographer's obsessive pursuit of dark subject matter leads him into the path of a serial killer who stalks late night commuters, ultimately butchering them in the most gruesome ways.
Triage
Drama · 2009
The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.
Honey Bunch
Fantasy · 2026
Diana's husband is taking her to an experimental trauma facility deep in the wilderness, but she can't remember why... As her memories begin to creep back in so do some unwelcome sinister truths about her marriage.
Shirley
Drama · 2020
A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Cate Shortland
Written by
Shaun Grant
Teresa Palmer
Clare Havel
Max Riemelt
Andi Werner
Matthias Habich
Erich Werner
Emma Bading
Franka Hummels
Elmira Bahrami
Jana
Christoph Franken
Peter
Lucie Aron
Elodie Zadikan
Court is in session
Put Berlin Syndrome on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.