TRAUMNOVELLE Trailer: Black Mandala Adds Erotic Thriller to EFM Slate

Traumnovelle—an erotic thriller and a loose adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s novella, which also served as the inspiration for Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut. The film can be described as a compelling mix of Black Swan, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Eyes Wide Shut.

 

Starring Nikolai Kinski (son of the legendary Klaus Kinski) and Laurine Price, Traumnovelle is a remarkable genre piece that stands out with its mesmerizing performances and captivating atmosphere.

 

Director Florian Frerichs breathes new life into Arthur Schnitzler’s classic novella “Traumnovelle” in Berlin’s pulsing nightlife in 2024, transforming a century-old narrative of sexual tension and psychological exploration into a contemporary meditation on desire, fantasy, and marital boundaries. This daring adaption follows Jacob (Nikolai Kinski), a distinguished psychiatrist, and his wife Amelia (Laurine Prince) as they traverse the complex landscape of modern intimacy, where technology, sexual liberation, and deep-seated psychological drives intersect.

 

Berlin is a city of dreams and nightmares, its beauty masking a dark undercurrent. Jakob and Amelia’s marriage is suffocating under unspoken desires and growing emptiness, held together only by their child, Henny. One night, Amelia seeks escape, while Jakob stumbles into a surreal odyssey of temptation and danger—an encounter with a grieving daughter, a descent into a hidden underworld, and an invitation to a masked gathering of forbidden pleasures with cruel consequences. A mysterious woman’s sacrifice saves him, but the night leaves him haunted.

 

Determined to reclaim what he lost, he retraces his steps by daylight—only to find every door closed, every figure vanished, and the truth slipping further away. Broken and disillusioned, he returns home, where Amelia finally confesses her secret dreams, cutting deeper than any nightmare. As they awaken from the illusions that nearly consumed them, they realize their journey has only just begun—toward something real, something true, beyond the shadows of the night.