It all started with a big idea in a small film. In his 13-minute short film “Jupiter,” released in 2019, director Benjamin Pfohl combines science fiction ideas of a cosmic cult with a coming-of-age story. The result was well received, “Jupiter” was shortlisted for the Bafta Student Film Awards and screened at more than 40 film festivals. Based on the short film, Pfohl and Silvia Wolkan wrote the script for a feature-length version of the material. It was created with “Jupiter“a visually and aurally spherical narrative:
Images of Jupiter are superimposed with empty promises of salvation, the sound drifts further and further into cosmic realms. Nevertheless, the story remains wonderfully grounded because Pfohl never places himself above his characters, but remains empathetic towards them. At the 58th Hof Film Days, Benjamin Pfohl received the New German Cinema Promotion Prize for his feature film debut and – among other things from the author of these lines, who was part of the three-person jury – the Hof Critics' Prize for Best Director. Fryderyk Świerczyński was also awarded the Bild- Art sponsorship award for the best production design.
Lea (Mariella Aumann) doesn't believe in the cult's ideas, but she still takes part in their rituals.
“Jupiter” follows a desperate family that falls into the clutches of a cult. An overwhelmed family reaches its limits early on. Because her son Paul (Henry Kofahl) is not developing cognitively, she tests alternative treatment methods. While daughter Lea (Mariella Aumann) accepts her brother as he is, parents Barbara (terrific: Laura Tonke) and Thomas (Andreas Döhler) continue to look for suitable therapy. In a cosmic cult they not only find the answer to their problems, but also to climate change. In the end, Lea has to decide whether she wants to follow her parents' new path or go her own way…
Introducing Lea as a critical voice is smart. Through them you not only get to know their parents better, but also the practices that a cult uses. She is also shown as a typical teenager with all her vulnerability. She is mocked at school as a “girl from Jupiter,” but at home this corresponds to her parents’ (chosen) reality. Benjamin Pfohl skilfully switches between the strange place her parents have chosen for her, the friendly people she meets in the Jupiter camp, and her own free, but not always happy, life. The jumps suggest Lea's conflict.
Between the worlds
As the members of the cult prepare, step by step, for the comet Calypso to get close enough to Earth to take them to the largest planet in the solar system, Lea is part of the process, even though she doesn't believe in it. What counts for them is the here and now, the next school test, their friends or the next party. When she understands that her mother wants nothing more than to believe in the cult, she confronts her father about his way of thinking. Even if they arrived on Jupiter, even the cult's guru wouldn't know what to expect.
Mariella Aumann (“Dark”) believably embodies a strong personality who has to make adult decisions as a child. As a film child, Henry Kofahl is present and absent at the same time through his movement patterns and behavior, which is something that can be taken away from him at any time. Laura Tonke treats her film daughter with great naivety and motherly love, but she is still deprived of her responsible role. Andreas Döhler plays the opposite pole to the mother. He likes to avoid conflicts and tends to compromise.
The countdown to Jupiter's journey is counting down mercilessly – and Lea has to decide whether she really wants to continue taking part.
A countdown forms the basis of the film. The voice of the guru Wolf (Ulrich Matthes) can be heard at the very beginning, where he counts down from ten. You can't see him. Instead, the screen is immersed in fog – only later will it be understood that these are interstellar clouds that surround Jupiter. The cosmic images created by Lukas Väth radiate a strange calm. They act like a bridge between the worlds and characters. The sound world created by Gary Hirche is impressive, which, together with the images of Jupiter, creates another level. Sometimes calming, then subtly threatening, Hirche's composition oscillates as if it were another character in the film.
The images that cameraman Tim Kuhn captures in the Bavarian Forest seem strange. People stand on huge moss-covered stones in front of dead trees. They wear VR glasses and stare motionless ahead. Production designer Fryderyk Świerczyński and his team built a kind of radar dome and a machine made of many hoses and containers for “Jupiter”, which will be used later. The countdown is on: “Three. We allow it. Two. We are strong. One. We are free. Take off.” But despite the dreams of distant planets, the film feels damn real and painfully grounded.
Conclusion: In “Jupiter” director Benjamin Pfohl makes the intangible come alive both visually and musically. The girl's perspective keeps you close to the characters, which makes the story feel wonderfully grounded. Rarely has a work been as spherical as it is current.
We saw “Jupiter” as part of the 58th Hof Film Festival.