X
  • 2015
  • Not Rated
  • Strand Releasing
  • 1 h 21 m
  • 2015
  • Not Rated
  • Strand Releasing
  • 1 h 21 m

Summary Director Ulrich Seidl delves into yet another exploration of the dark underside of the human psyche with a look at Austrian basements fitted out as private domains for secrets and fetishes. No desire or proclivity is off limits to Seidl’s camera, which takes in the opera-singing gunslinger, the Hitler-loving brass band, a hunter of exoti...

Directed By: Ulrich Seidl

Written By: Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl

  • 2015
  • Not Rated
  • Strand Releasing
  • 1 h 21 m
  • 2015
  • Not Rated
  • Strand Releasing
  • 1 h 21 m

In the Basement

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
68
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
5.2
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved

Where to Watch

Summary Director Ulrich Seidl delves into yet another exploration of the dark underside of the human psyche with a look at Austrian basements fitted out as private domains for secrets and fetishes. No desire or proclivity is off limits to Seidl’s camera, which takes in the opera-singing gunslinger, the Hitler-loving brass band, a hunter of exoti...

Directed By: Ulrich Seidl

Written By: Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
6 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 8 Critic Reviews
68
75% Positive
6 Reviews
25% Mixed
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
88
Nov 3, 2015
Cinema hasn't been this close to the dusty cogs of desire's machinery and unapologetic about pleasure since Pasolini.
By Diego Semerene FULL REVIEW
83
Nov 5, 2015
Seidl uses the peculiar relationship of Austrians to their basements as a way to pick away at the cracks between our public and our most private selves. But it's an idea that is elevated further by his rigorous eye for composition and cinematographic portraiture that makes the even the most bizarre images beautiful, and fashions the film, which could feel very fragmented in that it jumps from subject to subject and back again, into a deeply engrossing whole.
By Jessica Kiang FULL REVIEW
80
Nov 5, 2015
Make of it what you will, this off-the-wall film essay entertains hugely while it makes the audience squirm in their seats.
By Deborah Young FULL REVIEW
70
Nov 5, 2015
Grabby and grubby in equal measure, this meticulously composed trawl through the contents of several middle-class Austrians’ cellars (a space, according to Seidl, that his countrymen traditionally give over to their most personal hobbies) yields more than a few startling discoveries.
By Guy Lodge FULL REVIEW
70
Nov 3, 2015
Seidl's study reminds us, with each new basement, that the places where we're most ourselves might as well have grown off us like the shells of mollusks.
By Alan Scherstuhl FULL REVIEW
40
Nov 5, 2015
With In The Basement, [Seidl] seems to falling back on the same old shocks. The freakiness is losing its capacity to disturb.
By Peter Bradshaw FULL REVIEW
40
Nov 3, 2015
Seidl is a filmmaker of both talent and merit, but the blatant manipulation of his subjects and the nakedness of his own intentions and dribbling fascination make In the Basement irrelevant as a comment on Austrian society as a whole, and only passingly interesting as an unsurprising picture of what some very odd people do in the privacy of their own homes.
By John Bleasdale FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
5.2
33% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
3 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 6 User Ratings
5.2
33% Positive
2 Ratings
50% Mixed
3 Ratings
17% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company ARTE, Coop99 Filmproduktion, Filmfonds Wien, Land Niederösterreich, ORF Film/Fernseh-Abkommen, Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion GmbH, Österreichisches Filminstitut
Release Date Nov 6, 2015
Duration 1 h 21 m
Rating Not Rated
Genres
Website http://www.ulrichseidl.com/de/01Aktuelles/01DisplayData.shtml?/IM-KELLER/69
View All Details

Awards

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
CPH:DOX
• 1 Nomination
London Film Festival
• 1 Nomination

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