The Universal Theory

2023, Timm Kröger, Germany/Austria/Switzerland

A hyper-cineliterate, visually stunning conundrum of a movie, The Universal Theory will appeal to those for whom the phrase “Hitchcockian sci-fi” makes them sit up and take notice. The photography and setting bring to mind Hitchcock’s Spellbound (WFS 2022), but unlike that film, its surrealist elements are not limited to a single dream sequence.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Swiss Alps, the film follows Johannes Leinert (Jan Bülow), a young physicist attending a scientific congress with his mentor (Hanns Zischler). Johannes meets Karin (Olivia Ross), an elusive pianist—one who knows things about him that he has never told another living soul. Before he knows it, his curiosity traps him inside a mind-bending web of murder and mystery.

Timm Kröger’s second film is a bold and audacious puzzle that was clearly a labor of love. We’re looking forward to experiencing The Universal Theory’s surrealism, cinematic references, and physics theories together!

“Richly referencing classic cinema, from Hitchcock to Fassbinder, Welles to Lynch, film noir to German mountain films of the 1920s, French New Wave to Italian giallo, Timm Kröger creates a bewildering puzzle that is fully original, suspenseful and visually mesmerizing. But at the heart of what could have been a mere cinematic pastiche is a sublime poetic vision manifesting itself in what ultimately is a heart-wrenching love story.” — Paolo Bertolin, NZIFF