HYSTERIA
Germany, 2025, 104 minutes, Colour.
Devrim Lingnau, Mehdi Meskar, Serkan Kaya, Nicolette Krebitz, Aziz Capkurt, Nazmi Kirik.
Directed by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay.
Hysteria is a different kind of thriller, the making of a film in the 21st-century by a group interested in migration issues, Muslims coming to Germany. Audiences might be tempted to become a bit hysterical as they watch the aftermath of a scene where a copy of the Quran is burnt, those involved becoming intense about what happened, responsibility, the director and producer, the focus on the young assistant, the actors who were amateurs coming from a local migrant centre, a taxi driver. Ultimately, each of the characters has their version of what happened, blame, and the audience having to decide, if they can, what really happened with each of the characters and who was responsible.
Many audiences will find this film difficult to sit through, the complexity of the characters, difficulties in the elaboration of the Muslim issues and the Quran, the stances of the participants, the ambiguity of all the perspectives.
But, in retrospect, audiences will have looked at and listen to the explanations, true and/or falls by all the participants and realise, with memories of film like Kurosawa’s Rashomon, that there can be many versions of the same story.
