The Unintentional Kidnapping of Elfriede Ott

Director's Statement

When the world is in trouble, we don’t just need horror (to show us that there are other people who are even worse off), more than anything we need comedies that give us 90 minutes of oblivion and let us temporarily forget the finance crisis, our uncertain job situations, the lousy weather, our stupid neighbour, and whatever else is getting us down. Pure escapism? Why not? There is a particular breed of human being: a thirty-something slacker who can’t really seem to get his shit together. Too late for the revolutionary 80s and unable to live up to society’s expectations, these people are lost somewhere in between. Some try to find their niche, Toni, for example, a go-getter who wants to give the world a little luxury with his stretch limo service, even though his own financial situation is far from rosy. Horst is a good guy too, despite the fact that he has been collecting his grandmother’s retirement pension even though she has been pushing up daisies, so to speak, for years. But if no one complains, what’s the problem? Right? Elfriede Ott - famous actress, idol in the Austrian theatre scene, a living legend of light entertainment - keeps our clumsy heroes anchored to reality. Like an Austrian version of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, except in this case we are fortunately not confined to the popular actress’ head; her physical presence is enough. THE UNINTENTIONAL KIDNAPPING OF ELFRIEDE OTT fuses the elements of the classical boulevard comedy with slapstick, merges rural Austria with the visual narrative style of younger American movie comedies.