for their captors, but it’s a red
herring. With the likes of Paul
Verhoeven’s Elle and the awful
Fifty Shades series exploring the
darkest of female fantasies, it
initially seems Shortland’s inten-
tion to join this current trend, but
Clare never falls for Max; she’s
always determined to escape his
clutches, though her efforts are
pretty pathetic.
Berlin Syndrome may boast a
pair of top-notch performances
from its leads, along with some
polished cinematography, but
NJ STAGE 2017 - Vol. 4 No. 5
otherwise it’s the sort of me-
diocre thriller that clogs up the
Netflix catalogue. Max is an un-
convincing villain, and the film’s
attempts to humanize him (much
time is devoted to his relation-
ship with his aging father) jar
with the otherwise generic thrill-
er tone of the movie. Oddly, we
learn more about Max than Clare,
who despite several attempts
to escape her captor’s clutches,
seems quite happy in her situa-
tion at times, twirling and danc-
ing around his apartment in a
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