Everyone Else

"One of the most accomplished unraveling-couple films of recent years, writer-director Maren Ade’s second feature brilliantly captures the growing disconnect between mismatched young lovers Chris (Lars Eidinger) and Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr), whose moments of tender intimacy are often immediately followed by cruel passive-aggressive behavior. On vacation with Gitti at his parents’ villa in Sardinia, architect Chris feels his artistic greatness has been unrecognized; his sulking is sometimes indulged by his far more sanguine girlfriend. After spending time with an older, more successful friend and his pregnant wife, the fault lines in Chris and Gitti’s relationship grow even wider. For all the film’s emotionally volatile scenes, Everyone Else never devolves into histrionics, its precise examination of the hazards of coupledom always ringing honest, true, and instantly recognizable." Quoting the synopsis on the 2009 New York Film Festival site.