''A Sacrifice'' is a 2024

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by Jordan Scott, and starring

Eric Bana Eric Martin Andrew Banadinović (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana (), is an Australian actor. He began his career in the sketch-comedy series '' Full Frontal'' before gaining notice in the comedy drama '' The Castle'' (199 ...

Sadie Sink Sadie Elizabeth Sink (born April 16, 2002) is an American actress. She began her acting career in theater, playing the title role in the musical '' Annie'' (2012–14) and young Elizabeth II in the historical play '' The Audience'' (2015) on ...

, and

Sylvia Hoeks Sylvia Hoeks (; born 1 June 1983) is a Dutch actress and former model, best known internationally for her roles in ''Blade Runner 2049'' (2017) and '' The Girl in the Spider's Web'' (2018). Early life and education Hoeks was raised in Maarheez ...

. A co-production between Germany and United States, the film is an adaptation of Nicholas Hogg's 2015 novel ''Tokyo''. ''A Sacrifice'' had a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States by

Vertical Entertainment Vertical (formerly Vertical Entertainment) is an American independent film distribution company founded by producers Rich Goldberg and Mitch Budin in 2012. Vertical releases films across all mediums, including theatrical, video on demand, physica ...

on 28 June 2024. It had a limited release in Germany on 1 August 2024. It received generally poor reviews.

Plot

An American social psychologist in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

must save his daughter from a cult after she falls in love with a boy who is under the thrall of the cult's charismatic leader.

Cast

as Ben Monroe *

as Mazzy Monroe, Ben's daughter *

as Nina *

Jonas Dassler Jonas Dassler (born March 22, 1996) is a German stage and film actor. Life Dassler was born on March 22, 1996, in Remscheid, Germany. Beginning in the eighth grade he participated in the theatre club at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt high school. After ...

as Martin *

Sophie Rois Sophie Rois (born 1961) is an Austrian actress who lives and works in Berlin. She has appeared in such films as ''Three'', ''180°'', ''Enemy at the Gates'' and television programmes such as ''Polizeiruf 110'' and ''Die kleine Monsterin'' (voice) ...

as Hilma * Stephan Kampwirth as Max * as Lotte

Production

The film was co-produced by

Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. He directs films in the Science fiction film, science fiction, Crime film, crime, and historical drama, historical epic genres, with an atmospheric and highly co ...

and Michael Pruss for

Scott Free Productions Scott Free Productions is a film and television production company founded by English filmmakers and brothers Ridley and Tony Scott in 1995. The result of multiple mergers between companies established by the Scott brothers since 1971, it curre ...

in conjunction with

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

-based Augenschein Filmproduktion's Jonas Katzenstein, Maximilian Leo, and Georgina Pope. Executive producers were Jonathan Saubach for Augenschein and Rebecca Feuer for Scott Free.

Kiernan Shipka Kiernan Brennan Shipka (born November 10, 1999) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as List of Mad Men characters#Sally Draper, Sally Draper in the AMC (TV channel), AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), and Sabrina Spe ...

was initially added to the production alongside Bana in January 2022, but left the project before principal photography began in September 2022. In May 2022,

was added to the cast. In September 2022,

, and

were cast in the film. Stephan Kampwirth and Lara Feith were announced to be part of the cast in May 2024.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in

in September 2022. Filming was wrapped by December 2022.

Release

''A Sacrifice'' is the second film (after '' The Dive'' in 2023) under the strategic sales partnership between UK-based Protagonist Pictures and the German distributor Augenschein Sales, with both companies sharing joint sales rights to the film worldwide. In February 2024, Vertical acquired North American distribution rights to the film (which was subsequently re-titled ''A Sacrifice'' in May 2024), releasing it in select theatres on 28 June 2024. ''A Sacrifice'' was released in Germany under the title ''Berlin Nobody'' on 1 August 2024.

Reception

Box office

, most of the film's revenue originated from its

theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in thea ...

in Russia, where it grossed $61,559 during its opening weekend, and went on to make the total of $122,360 in that territory after 56 days in release.

Critical response

Peter Sobczynski of ''

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

'' gave the film one out of four stars and wrote, "The first two-thirds of ''A Sacrifice'' are a largely leaden affair... it then proceeds to get infinitely worse in its final act as it shifts from tediousness to outright lunacy".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sacrifice (film), A American drama films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films Films produced by Ridley Scott Scott Free Productions films Vertical (film company) films English-language drama films