The Exiles
Synopsis
House of Cards is a fast-moving, complex, witty and very modern story of love, lies and liaisons. Daniel cheats on his partner, therapist Frieda, with Dorothea. Dorothea’s husband Philip has an affair with his student Maggie, who’s in love with florist Michael. His wife Barbara has a lover—her boss, Marko, who is engaged to singer Simone Stern… When Simone becomes fearful that she has AIDS, the whole dense structure of deceit begins to collapse. Without waiting to confirm her diagnosis, Simone tells her fiancé she is sick, and within a matter of hours the fearful news spreads through the web of contacts. Lies are exposed, secrets are revealed, and one character pays for his betrayal with his life.
Writer and director Silvia Zeitlinger demonstrates a firm directorial hand and has struck a profoundly authentic and compelling tone in her debut feature film. The acting throughout is impeccable, the characters engaging and recognizable. Zeitlinger says “Similarities with living and deceased persons are no coincidence, and are in fact intentional.”
The film is beautifully shot by Peter Zeitlinger (longtime cinematographer for Werner Herzog, in New Orleans at the time to shoot Herzog’s latest feature The Bad Lieutenant). Herzog commented on the film: “House of Cards in written in a very intelligent way. At every moment I was curious to see where the story would lead me.”
