Streamed via Netflix on September 4th. The picture is directed by Cate Shortland and based on a novel by Melanie Joosten. The premise of the film is simple enough, Clare is an Australian backpacking through Berlin. She ends up meeting up with Andi, a good looking guy who seems so nice she decides to spend the night as his place. When Andi goes to work and locks Clare in the apartment, she just shrugs it off as an honest mistake. When it happens again and she gives him the "what's the deal" speech, it becomes clear that she's not going anywhere and that Andi's apartment is built specifically for having guest over against their will.
Clare gets "pacified" by routinely being tied to the bed while Andi is out leading a regular life as a teacher and visiting his father, a retired professor (where its revealed that Clare is not his first "guest"). Clare kind of accepts her fate to a degree. One of Andi's students follows him home and she spots Clare in the apartment but Clare is unable to capitalize on the situation because Andi threatens to harm Franka. When Andi's father dies and he's gone for a few days, Clare is relieved when he returns.
Andi takes Clare for a drive in the woods, never a good spot, but is unable to chop her up when a little kid shows up. Clare tried to get the kid's help but he doesn't understand English. Time passes and Clare spots a flashlight in an apartment across the alley and manages to get the guy's attention. Unfortunately, Andi shows up and dispatches him.
Andi sees an article related to Clare's disappearance and decides its time to get rid of Clare. Andi tells Clare that the place is going to be fumigated. He gets rid of all the food and shuts off the water with the intention of starving Clare to death. However, Clare manages to place a photo in Franka's workbook that Andi is grading. Franka finds the photo and runs out of school but the photo falls out of the workbook in her haste and Andi then chases after her. Franka and Clare manage to outsmart Andi and escape.
This a good film that received 72% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It's knid of a combination of The Collector and Misery the ending is much more subtle than I expected from a film of this type. I was expecting a big showdown between Clare and Andi where someone dies and the Shortland goes in another direction. My only real problem with the film is that it has a 116 minute run time. It could have been cut to around 100 minutes and not lost any of the tension. At nearly two hours the film tends to grind along slowly. Otherwise it's a solid thriller.
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