The privilege, the new Netflix film directed by Felix Fuchssteiner and Katharina Schöde, attempts a curious mix of genres. On the one hand, the opening sequences of the horror movie suggest what looks like a supernatural story. At the other extreme, the plot also emphasizes psychological terror. But the combination of both things lacks the strength and intelligence to be solid enough. In fact, during the first confusing minutes of production, the big question is unavoidable. Are the filmmakers trying to create a horror version full of red herrings or do both points of view lead to a certain point?
There are really no answers to the essential question that the movie. In fact, once it showed the most striking and sinister knot in its history, the filmmaking duo does not seem to have a very clear idea of where to go next. In fact, the perception of the supernatural with a violent death and the announcement of a progressive darkness, seems to stop halfway. And by the time the argument takes an appreciable time jump, the script does not have the capacity to unite the pieces of what it narrates.
It is disconcerting that the narration does not have the ability to use its resources for more than obvious jump scares. The connection between the past and the future, or the sinister theories that are shown little by little, end up collapsing soon. This is an obvious mistake when constructing the idea of how terrifying The privilege drive clumsily.
He doesn’t answer your questions either. What’s even more worrying for its first half hour seems to go back and forth without cohesion or intelligence. What promised to be a well-constructed network of information and hints about good, evil, and riddles, ends up falling apart immediately. For its first installment, the filmmaking duo makes obvious attempts to build a labyrinthine vision of suspense. But not only does he not succeed, but The privilege it becomes a ridiculous take on genres without any spice or solidity.
A horror story told with difficulty
From its first minutes, The privilege poses a dual look at the terrifying. On the one hand, a young child is an unwitting witness to a violent crime. At the same time, there is the hint of an aggressive and perverse supernatural presence. Together, both perspectives try to complete what seems like an idea about fear that is linked with the enigmatic. After all, the film does not give enough clues to analyze – not immediately – what is really happening. The gamble looks clever, until it becomes clear that it is a narrative trick. The script speculates on the root of evil and also the conception of the central mystery through what is suggested.
But either because the argument cannot sustain ambiguity for long, The privilege he immediately reveals his secrets. And she does it with a clunky, jerky pace that destroys the atmosphere and tone of the film. By the time the little witness to the initial crime becomes a young man (played by Max Schimmelpfennig) it is clear where the narrative is headed. And it is that space between conspiracy theories, supernatural fears and childhood traumas that the film fails to show successfully. The stories overlap, and what is even worse, end up deforming the narrative thread on which they depend. Time and time again, the perception of the mysterious is distorted amid clichés and predictable twists without real meaning.
What he regrets the most The privilege is that the argument approaches a complex game of mirrors. The staging accentuates the perception of the dreamlike and the unreal until reaching a point of real interest. But immediately, all the effort collapses in the irregularity of the premise. It seems that the directors do not find a real way to build a firm direction with respect to what they want to narrate. And that version of terror at two extremeswithout definition and without solidity, which ends up distorting history.
‘The privilege’, a badly narrated story
TO The privilege It takes almost forty minutes for him to narrate the core of a predictable story. What’s worse, it fills in the script gaps with blood, evil spirits — or what seem to be — and even a traumatic backstory. None of that is enough to sustain a deficient, incomplete and formless narrative.
Netflix’s new horror bet fails in form and substance. What is more unfortunate: it ruins a story with a promising beginning. an unfortunate mistake both in tone and perception of terror that ends up being a confusing mix without meaning. A lost opportunity to show a new air on the suspense mixed with dyes of paranormal enigma.