ALMA and OSKAR (Noosa Sun Matinee)

Alma and Oskar film trailer HERE

 Alma and Oskar is an enthralling and sometimes outrageous drama directed by Dieter Berner who loves exploring the lives and workings of painters in particular.  His last feature was on Egon Schiele, but here he covers  the passionate and tumultuous three-year relationship between the Grand Dame of Viennese society Alma Mahler (wife of Gustav Mahler)  and Austrian expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka. 

In Vienna, in the spring of 1912, the recently widowed Alma Mahler (Emily Cox, The Last Kingdom), a vibrant figure in Vienna’s art and music scene is having an on-again-off-again relationship with architect Walter Gropius (Anton Von Lucke, Babylon Berlin), when Oskar appears on the scene.

An up-and-coming expressionist painter and “Enfant Terrible” of Vienna’s art scene, Oskar sees Alma as a muse, and the years of their relationship marked the most prodigious period in his life.

Yet what starts as a passionate adventure quickly turns into an intense and turbulent affair.  

While Alma fights for her autonomy and social success, Oskar’s obsession with her leads to a game of power, passion and dependency, sending them to the brink of self-destruction. Paintings were harmed during filming! 

A very enjoyable arts biopic with high end production values and attention to detail.  Oskar loved Alma for the rest of his life and had to flee Europe when the Nazis came to power.  He was deemed a  "degenrate artist." 

"Beautifully captured" Cineuropa. 

"Extremely refined and showing its own personality" Cinema Austriaco 

"Tumultuous." Variety 

OFFICIAL SELECTION   International Film Festival of India 2023