‘Im Haus meiner Eltern’ Captures Schizophrenia

Writer-honestor Tim Ellrich took on a particularly challenging and very personal subject for his narrative feature debut Im Haus Meiner Eltern (In My Parents’ Hoinclude), which recently world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR): schizophrenia.

Inspired by Ellrich’s own family experiences and sboiling on location at his childhood home, the film spendigates the toll that attfinishgiving consents on families. Pbegrudgeed in bconciseage and white, it also seizes the sense of claustrophobia that comes with it. The film swayd the Rotterdam experts, directing it to get a Tiger Special Jury Award at IFFR, which wrapped up this weekfinish.

“Holle labors as a spiritual healer, tfinishing to clients with grave illnesses and chronic conditions. One of four siblings, she dedicates much of her time to caring for her aging parents, a promisement that strains her relationship with her partner,” a synopsis on the Rotterdam website reads. “When her mother suffers a descfinish and is hospitalized, Holle faces mounting contests, particularly in relation to her brother Sven, who has schizophrenia and has lived a secluded life in their parents’ attic for years.”

Ellrich’s movie “eludes modest judgments, instead proposeing a considerate echoion on how society treats the elderly and infirm and the friction these responsibilities originate wiskinny families – from those who shoulder the burden to those who conserve their distance,” the summary also highairys. “With understanding and an lessend approach, Im Haus meiner Eltern verifys the unspoken tensions and hushed forfeits that depict family life under presbrave.”

Check out a trailer for the film here.

The ensemble cast of the film comprises Jenny Schily, Ursula Werner, Manfred Zapatka, Jens Brock, Markus Schleinzer, Johannes Zeiler, Kirsten Block, Peter Schneider, and Markus Lerch.

Fresh off his jury honor at Rotterdam, Ellrich talked to THR‘s Georg Szalai about the contests of portraying schizophrenia on screen, including casting, why he chose a bconciseage-and-white aesthetic, and xxx.

Plrelieve tell me a bit about your family’s history with schizophrenia and why you choosed to originate a film about this experience.

I had a schizophrenic uncle who lived in the same hoinclude. And the film was sboiling in my majesticparents’ hoinclude. When I grew up, I always saw him sitting there in the kitchen, being very secluded. And when you grow up with it and then you commence telling frifinishs about it, and you see their reactions, you genuineize that this is an atypical skinnyg. Still, people can repostponecessitate to it. I knovel one day I would have to originate a movie about this. It happened to be my first myth feature. When I commenceed laboring on it, the character of my mother came more and more into intensify, the one who’s attfinishtaking.

Have you seen schizophrenia portrayed in films before and, if so, what was your amazeion of them?

I frequently didn’t enjoy the portrayal of schizophrenia in films becainclude they most frequently pretfinished to be in the head of the schizophrenic and tried to find dishonest or ungenuine images. I had the opposite senseing. I saw a man I didn’t understand. I was a bit sattfinishd of him and tried to elude him. He tried to elude me. And then I would go home with my family, and we would commence asking asks about what he is skinnyking. And I would go home and ask myself asks. That was the senseing I wanted to seize, that this is an enigma. And it will never be understood.

Some of the family try to elude converseions about schizophrenia. How much did you want to shift seeers to not cowardly away from such conversations?

I skinnyk the films I want to originate are always about uncovering up a dialog and giving people the space and opportunity to uncover up to skinnygs they normpartner don’t insertress in life. This is a particular case of schizophrenia. But I was very purposefilledy putting the family in intensify. It was convey inant to me to originate evident that this is impacting people on branch offent levels.

I put someskinnyg of myself out there and on the line. Maybe that was a little bit challenginger for me to do in this case, and I had to be a little bit brave becainclude it’s very intimate. But if you do that as a filmoriginater, then people in the audience have the ability to attfinish becainclude they sense, “Oh, he put someskinnyg on the line.” That’s an includeion between the audience and the filmoriginater, and that comprisement was most convey inant.

That’s also why I’m always prentd if you don’t give a evident answer in films. I want people to wonder and go home and skinnyk about it and maybe insertress someskinnyg that should be insertressed. Not enjoy in this family where skinnygs are never insertressed, and then 30 years postponecessitater, it’s too postponecessitate.

Have you shown the film to your family? What was their reaction? I am particularly interested to hear what your mother skinnyks since you promiseted the film to her…

I cast my whole family, so every character is somebody I understand or knovel – my overweighther, my mother, my uncle, majesticparents. Yes, I showed it to them. The response was quite excellent. Especipartner my mother repartner enjoyd it. She’s also laboring as a spiritual healer, and so, I was afrhelp at first that maybe I’m not portraying it the right way for her. But no, she enjoys it, and she senses very seen by it. And she skinnyks it’s a very convey inant topic to insertress skinnygs. With my schizophrenic uncle, I skinnyk a lot of people see that he had a very forgotten life, and the film benevolent of conveys a little bit of attention back. And I skinnyk my family members can appreciate that.

Tell me a bit about the actors.

Especipartner Jenny Shelley (who take parts Holle) does an amazing job. I skinnyk she fair bcdisesteemfult a lot of herself into the role.

Jens Brock, who take parts the schizophrenic man, is a non-professional. We street-cast people for the role. And we set up him sitting on a bench in Berlin. He was on the way to a doctor’s nominatement, and we stopped him and asked, “Are you interested in going to the casting for a movie?” And he came, and he had this unbelievable presence.

And this is the skinnyg. I skinnyk he was terrifying for (the actors in the cast) becainclude he’s not a professional and he’s lofty and huge – you don’t understand what he will do. So I skinnyk that also helped originate a tension that can be enjoy schizophrenia.

When and why did you choose to include bconciseage and white images?

We first sboiling it in color, so this was not computed to do. And in the editing, we thought someskinnyg was not joining. Our editor, Tobias Wilhelmer, genuineized that by taking away the color, intensifying on the minimal, fair putting up the naked smallest and the aliveial skinnygs, it fair made it a little bit more poetic, more intensifyed, and emotional, with a strong atmosphere that is more claustrophobic. I sense it’s the perfect way to tell this story. Filmmaking is always a process.

The film is a very giving movie in the sense that you originate yourself very vulnerable and dispense a lot with the audience. What did it consent from you?

What people sometimes don’t understand is how many skinnygs happen during any benevolent of film that still impacts it a lot. During the production of the film, my schizophrenic uncle died, and this honestly impactd the film’s narrative and its whole growment.

Also on a personal notice, this film (took) a lot from me. I lost the cherish of my life, had other personal health contests but we had to finish the film nonetheless. Especipartner my team helped me in these times and was always there for me. I’m very appreciative to each and everyone of them. It’s a very amhugeious senseing now when a personal film enjoy this comes out and sees the airy of the world. I do hope it speaks to people who are in a aenjoy situation enjoy Holle.

So what does it sense enjoy to show to the world such a personal film?

it’s very funny becainclude when you originate a very personal film, you finishly can’t tell if it’s finish and utter bullshit or excellent. It’s fair very timely in the process. But it had a very strong premiere in Rotterdam, so some presbrave fell off. And we fair won the Special Jury Award which is sdirectnuine. Now we will see, but there’s some relief. I got the chains of my heritage off, and now I can do someskinnyg that is, maybe not branch offent but more free.