The Universal Theory (Die Theorie von Allem, Germany-Austria-Switzerland 2023)

This unusual German-language film proved an entertaining if puzzling diversion during the coldest winter weather the UK has experienced for some time. The icy weather outside the cinema was appropriate for the film which takes place in the Swiss Alps (though it was filmed in St Jakob, East Tyrol in Austria). I don’t think I am in danger of revealing plot details and the genre fluidity of the film is so effective that nothing much I say could spoil your potential enjoyment. I will try to explain the genre elements in the mix for a film which personally I found similar in some ways to films like Christopher Nolan’s Inception (UK-US 2010) or films that mess with the history of the aftermath of the Second World War and the Cold War – but more fun.

It’s 1962 (or possibly not!) and German quantum physics student Johannes (Jan Bülow) is struggling to finish his PhD, which isn’t surprising since he is trying to develop a new theory which challenges the major quantum physics ideas of the time. Surprisingly, his supervisor Dr Strathen (Hanns Zischler) agrees to take him to a conference to hear a visiting Iranian physicist. The two men travel to Switzerland and to the Hotel Esplanade in the Alps. On the train they meet another physicist Prof. Blumberg (Gottfried Breitfuss) who forces himself on Strathen and his student much to Strathen’s disgust. The hotel reveals a few surprises but Johannes soon sets out to walk on the snow covered hills. Worried by the rapid development of a storm, he enters a remote church and is soon disturbed by the arrival of a young woman, Karin Hönig (Olivia Ross) who doesn’t stay long. Later Johannes comes across her playing the piano in the hotel as part of a jazz band.

These are the four central characters of the narrative and there are clearly potential narrative developments in the conflict between the two senior physicists (with Blumberg seemingly supporting Johannes) and a potential romance between Johannes and Karin. But there are plenty of other characters and separate narrative threads which might coalesce with the main two. Johnny and Susi are a couple of children who go exploring and perhaps find something they shouldn’t. Two mysterious detectives appear looking like members of the Gestapo or the Stasi. There are various seemingly natural disturbances like storms, avalanches, winds and startling cloud formations.

The film was written by Roderick Warich and Timm Kröger and directed by Kröger, who is also a cinematographer. It’s no surprise then that the designated DoP on this shoot, Roland Stuprich, would be given plenty of leeway to create a stunning visual treat. The film begins with a short prologue in colour, a clip from a 1974 TV talk show in which Johannes is interviewed (very casually) about his ‘novel’ which he tries to maintain is actually a true story. We then switch to one of the widest possible screen ratios of 2.66:1 in sharp black and white. I was puzzled at first by what I was sure wasn’t CinemaScope in either the original 2.55:1 or the eventual 2.35:1. Pictureville in Bradford is one of the few cinemas in the world that can show virtually every projected format but this film was not masked top and bottom, i.e. it couldn’t fit directly on the main ‘Scope frame without the bars at top and bottom. The only other time I’ve seen a film using this ratio was Sarah Polley’s Women Talking (US 2022) – which I now note claimed to be even wider at 2.76:1 but which was fully masked.

The Universal Theory has a distinctive music score by Diego Ramos Rodriguez, who also scores restorations of Silent Cinema films. A second composer, David Schweighart, is also listed for the film. IMDb suggests he wrote the jazz band music.  The music has certainly energised some reviewers with suggestions that there is a motif associated with Karin that might evoke that for the Kim Novak character in Vertigo. There are others who suggest that the score evokes Bernard Herrmann more generally in Hitchcock’s films. Hitchcock himself made two films that remind us of ‘Middle Europe’ in Winter with the first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1934 and The Lady Vanishes in 1938. He also made Spellbound in 1945 in which a ski slope forms an important part of a dream by the Gregory Peck character which is interpreted by Ingrid Bergman’s psychoanalyst. I remember that Hitchcock briefly worked in German studios at the start of his career and that one of the main distinctive genres of German cinema has always been the ‘mountain film’ or Bergfilme which was first popular in the 1920s and 1930s when Hitchcock was getting started. These films, made on location in the alps focused on ‘man’s battle with the elements in the mountains’. There are still examples of such films around today and I note that Olivia Ross appeared in Olivier Assayas’ French film Clouds of Sils Maria (France-Switz-Germany 2014) which makes several connections to the same ideas as Universal Theory.

I read a variety of reviews from the film’s early festival screenings and they mentioned several further ‘influences’ and references. I searched for the Press Notes that would have been available at festivals and found a German set which include a Director’s Statement and a Q&A. Unfortunately, from my point of view, Kröger’s influences tend to include filmmakers that don’t interest me that much. He is a relatively young filmmaker early in his career (though he’s actually 40 later this year) and he tells us that his ideas came from dreams. He mentions David Lynch as well as Hitchcock, Truffaut and Spielberg. His inspiration appears to be the despair of The Matrix (US 1999) and some of the traces of postmodernism. He makes the philosophical point that:

To paraphrase Mark Fisher, it is easier these days to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. Places of refuge remain the cinema, series, and above all video games. While the scope for action in the real world seems to be getting smaller and more limited, we are capable of almost anything in virtual worlds and stories.

In this context, the film makes sense, though I don’t watch the Marvel franchise films where I understand the idea of the ‘multiverse’ is common. Overall, the film has been well reviewed though for many reviewers it does appear as a film with much more style than content. Personally, I think it has both. I should add that my confusion about the time period is related to the relatively long epilogue that covers some of the time between the ‘climax’ of the main narrative and the 1974 publication of Johannes’ ‘novel’. The epilogue has what has been described as a ‘Nouvelle Vague’ narration/quotation which lists several events of the Cold War/post-war history, several of which refer to well before the events depicted in the film. There is also a flashback to the Second World War. Johannes would have been born around 1930.

I don’t think Picturehouse as a distributor gave this film much exposure in the UK. It isn’t yet available on streamers in the UK but it does seem to be available on Amazon and Apple in many other territories. A UK Blu-ray is on the way but no date is available for its release as yet. The film may still be around in some cinemas. If you can get to a cinema that is the best place to see it. Here’s the US trailer: