04/07/2025 - Thomas Imbach thrusts the audience into a hyper realistic yet fantastical world where appearances can be deceiving

Following the success of Mary Queen of Scots [+see also:
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interview: Thomas Imbach
film profile], Swiss director Thomas Imbach is presenting a world premiere of his latest feature film, The Exposure, in the CineMasters Competition of Filmfest München. His movie is an astonishing journey into the mind of a girl who’s forced to follow the rules of a society which treats women like common currency. Based on Arthur Schnitzler’s story Fräulein Else, The Exposure was wholly shot in a studio with 3D projections on 16mm film, an aesthetic choice which lends the film an ecstatic, hyper realistic, psychedelic and dreamy air.

The summer holidays embarked upon by Lili (played by the brilliant Deleila Piasko), who’s staying with a rich aunt whom she has nothing to do with, take an unexpected turn when her mother urges her to ask a family friend far older than she is, called Dorsday, to lend her a significant amount of money to prevent her father ending up in prison. That night, when she tries to fulfil her mother’s request and is disgusted with herself for doing so, the girl loses her dignity but also everything she’s ever believed in.

Despite the limits imposed by a heteropatriarchal society where women can’t allow themselves the luxury of living their own lives, our protagonist Lili dreams of being able to take real action against the situation she finds herself in. Her thoughts, her dreams and the frustrations which she’s forced to contend with on a daily basis, seem to manifest themselves in the present as if by magic, revealing her thoughts via an intriguing, omnipresent off-camera voice. What does the word “freedom” mean in a society which doesn’t allow women to express their needs? In her imagination and dreamlike escape, Lili seems to have found an outlet, a friend with whom to speak in private, in her mind, in an alternative space-time where everything seems possible. The surprising and destabilising aspect of Imbach’s film is the privileged access the audience has to the thoughts inhabiting the protagonist’ inner world. Thanks to this constant commentary or incessant inner monologue, the audience feels they’re gaining direct access into Lili’s mind, as if the real reasons behind her choices were being made explicit by the decision-maker herself. Thanks to this “stratagem”, the contrast between her actions and her thoughts becomes clear, often lending many of the film’s scenes a comical and almost absurd air. Despite having to follow rules which don’t in any way suit her, Lilli retains her non-conformist and rebellious spirit, and this hidden side of the protagonist is foregrounded by the off-camera commentary.

In many respects, the time-period in which the action unfolds seems far off from our own, a world composed of rules and pleasantries which need to be respected with devotion and submission. What links the past and the present is Lili’s thirst for freedom, her brutally clear-sighted judgment of the middle-class society in which she’s forced to live. Ultimately, these are feelings which many women still experience. Women like Lili, who struggle not to be swallowed up by silence.

The Exposure is an astonishing film which asks the audience to break with old habits and to allow themselves to be transported by an “other” and occasionally surreal narrative experience, which makes us reflect upon the present by exploring the past.

The Exposure is a co-production between Swiss firm Okofilm and British outfit Prestige Films Limited, in league with SRF and SRG SSR.

(Translated from Italian)