Venice Film Festival 2019: PELIKANBLUT

Pelikanblut (Pelican Blood) is the sophomore feature film from director Katrin Gebbe. Gebbe is one of fifteen female directors behind the camera out of a staggering ninety-five features at this years 76th Venice Film Festival.

An issue that has erupted a great deal of controversy with only two of those films chosen apart of the official competition, being Shannon Murphy’s Babyteeth and Haifaa al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate. To make matters worse, Venice is also controversially holding the world premiere of Roman Polanski’s latest feature and involving it within the competition with the director famously barred from even stepping foot into the country.

Pelikanblut is part psychological thriller and part drama, starring Nina Hoss as Wiebke, who runs a horse farm and looks after adoptive daughter Nicolina, played by Adelia-Constance Ocleppo. Wiebke begins the process of adopting another child named Raya (Katerina Lipovska). What starts as an idyllic and perfectly crafted family life soon ruptures into a traumatic and increasingly disturbing set of events that put the family in grave danger.

A Sharp Euro Twist

Think Jennifer Kent’s Babadook and Richard Donner’s The Omen with a sharp Euro twist and you have Katrin Gebbe’s Pelikanblut – a suspenseful atmospheric German horror that makes the necessary impact needed to give the audience chills. Pelikanblut is going to be divisive – you will either love it or hate it.

Not because it is a poorly crafted feature in terms of its filmmaking, but because of how it contextually appropriates mental illness, or in fact demonises certain uncomfortable human qualities that people cannot help, especially in a younger child. It is quite the smart ploy by Gebbe, who can get away with far more emotional manipulation due to the actress’s age. Equally helpful is the performance of Katerina Lipovska as Raya, who puts forward a gloriously unnerving and disturbing performance. Her role is unforgettable without even a great deal of screen time.

An Emotional and Compelling Stir

The character of Raya is mainly utilised as a plot device. Granted, this is clearly a fictional tale and never claims to thoughtfully articulate a response to the earlier-mentioned themes. It is a nifty get out of jail free card, but in the context of the film, it does cause quite an emotional and compelling stir within the plot, much like M. Night Shyamalan’s usage of Kevin Crumb in Split.

It is the film’s most prolific and arguably problematic aspect – especially in the mainstream circuit, it is presumably going to come up against a significant amount of pushback. That being said, there is a lot here to appreciate and applaud in Katrin Gebbe’s film. The score by duo composers Johannes Lehniger and Sebastian Damerius is a subtle, unnerving nuance for the entire picture. It plays out almost like Gebbe is using it as a filmmaker would in structuring a villain. Small moments of indulgement and then a larger reveal in the film’s last act. It’s a wonderfully captivating and unnerving experience.

Let’s not forget about the fabulous central performance from Nina Hoss, who travels such a dark and distressing path as character Wiebke. How Hoss articulates internal struggle and heartbreak is fabulously rendered, and enchanting to watch as she descends into madness. There is not much room to maneuver or explore for Hoss, but in hindsight, it works as a blessing as the character has a certain enigmatic quality to her. Her mysterious aura reinforces the chilling atmosphere of the film.

Pelikanblut: Conclusion

Katrin Gebbe’s Pelikanblut is going to be a divisive film in this new wave of horror. It fits the blueprints of the latest successful films in horror like Hereditary, The Ritual, Apostle so on so forth, with its balance of dramatically written material and an underbelly of deliciously spooky horror. No doubt the consensus is going to be somewhat blurry, but one cannot help but feel if this were directed by Ari Aster, Alex Garland, or Luca Guadagnino, it would be outright hailed as a masterpiece from day one. Food for thought.

Will you be watching the career of Katrin Gebbe more closer? What are your thoughts on the Venice Film Festival? Let us know in the comments below!