Kirberg puts out about one cult film per decade but this one won’t do his reputation any good. Set in the radical 1970s atmosphere of Joseph Beuys’ tenure at the Dusseldorf Art Academy, the film is cleverly made as a mockumentary, using the ‘new’ video technology that allows Beuys junkie Hans (Diehl) to record his fascination with wild child Ruth (Krane). But the art-meets-life psychobabble that accompanies this Sleeping Beauty parable is frankly awful with the bad prince, at one point, swallowing and then unironically passing a key.
Das Schlafende Mädchen | Directed by Rainer Kirberg (Germany 2011) with Jakob Diehl, Natalie Krane. Starts January 17