THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY

Synopsis

Karen lives with her husband Markus and their children in her idyllically located childhood home. For Markus’ birthday, Karen’s sister Jule, her husband Jurek and their two children come to visit. Jule is her sister’s polar opposite: easy-going, lively and a freedom-lover. Ever since she was a child, she has hated this house. Grim reminders of their deceased mother just make her want to rebel even more against her domineering sister. Karen’s daughter Johanna, who has been rebelling against her mother for a long time, sides with her aunt from the get-go. Going through the height of puberty, she provokes Karen at every chance she gets and is not afraid to flirt uninhibitedly with her uncle Jurek. Leon, a cooking enthusiast, also gradually picks up the courage to stand up to his mother. A front begins to form against Karen, and the house succumbs to a dynamic where the aim is to overthrow the ruler. And then there is the mysterious Liv, who a few months ago, moved into the small house on the edge of the woods and walks Karen's dog every day. She harbours a fiery secret and has a special closeness to Markus. Does she secretly want to take Karen's place, so that she can finally have a family of her own? Or has Karen herself, perhaps desired or even devised this revolution in her family? Has she unconsciously prepared a kind of exorcism to expel the demons of the past and finally be free? As the house becomes increasingly full of life and a sparrow in the chimney seeks its escape to freedom, Karen's tension rises – until everything comes to a head and the old is destroyed to make room for the new.

Statement of the director(s)

In this film, I want to explore the fairy-tale-like transformation of a family’s dynamics, condensed over two days. It is the story of an unconventional emancipation, where a woman, Karen, sheds herself of the burden of her past. A burden that like an invisible ulcer has burrowed its way deeper and deeper into the old walls of the house, digging itself into the bodies of the family, hovering above it all for years like a tyrannical demon.
Karen's transformation triggers a dreamy ballet of role-playing and frictions. A space of fluid identities takes shape, in which family and social conventions and the possibility of freedom within a middle-class lifestyle are subversively scrutinised. All this provides the ingredients for a bittersweet, dark family drama – a film, in which moments of hurt happen just as quickly as moments of affection and intimacy.