"A dryly amusing and ambiguously layered account of the famed double suicide of Heinrich von Kleist and Henriette Vogel." – Variety

After being rebuffed by several women, German author Heinrich von Kleist puts his offer of a suicide love pact to the wife of a business friend. Perhaps it is her crushingly boring life or Kleist's persistence, but the peculiar idea takes a hold.

Jessica Hausner's (Lourdes, MIFF 2010) complex and beautifully filmed feature views the romantic ideal of a lovers' suicide sceptically by focusing on the reality of what that means. In turn creepy, awkwardly droll and tragic, this ‘rom-com', which is loosely based on Kleist's 1811 suicide pact, slowly turns the dramatic screws through to its exquisitely staged ending.

Set in the rarefied world of 19th-century Berlin aristocracy (in arms over a new tax levy. Imagine!), Amour Fou is a distinctly original period drama.

"A delightful comedy of errors and acidic analysis of love's remarkable talent for idiocy." – Indiewire