THE INNOCENT

DER UNSCHULDIGE

By Simon JAQUEMET

ARTHOUSE TRAFFIC - as DISTR Theatrical, TV, VOD, UKRAINE

Second film - Completed 2018

After 20 years Andreas wants Ruth back, but Ruth loves Jesus.

Festivals
& Awards

Toronto - TIFF 2018
Platform
San Sebastian FF 2018
Official selection
Stockholm IFF 2018
Stockholm XXVIII Competition
Ventana Sur 2018
European Cinema
Fantastic Fest 2018
    • Year of production
    • 2018
    • Genres
    • Second film, Drama
    • Countries
    • SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
    • Languages
    • SWISS-GERMAN
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 90 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Simon JAQUEMET
    • Producer(s)
    • Tolga DILSIZ (8HORSES), Aurelius EISENREICH (8HORSES)
    • Synopsis
    • Something changes when Ruth sees a man she strangely seems to recognise. Without talking
      to him, she returns home. Ruth has two teenage daughters, a husband and a house in the suburbs. She and her family are members of an evangelical Christian community. In her basement is a box full of pictures of the man and her. Long ago, she loved him. He has spent twenty years in prison for a murder he claims he did not commit. Ruth has not seen him since his conviction.
      Ruth works as a veterinarian at a medical research company. She assists in complicated surgery whereby the head of a rhesus monkey is being transplanted onto the body of another monkey. The man haunts Ruth’s life like a phantom from the past. He seems to circle around her in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to reemerge into her life. She is torn between the wish to keep up her domestic existence and the destructive attraction of her past lover.
      The door to the underground has sprung open, and Ruth starts to investigate. The forest bears secrets, her daughters are two-faced and the beheaded monkey is in misery. Ruth takes a plunge into a dark ocean undercutting the thin foundation of her beliefs. Ruth leaves her home, her family and her faith behind.
    • Beginning of shooting
    • Jan 31, 2017
    • End of shooting
    • Mar 12, 2017