''Exterritorial'' is a 2025 German

action thriller film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed and written by

Christian Zübert Christian Zübert (born 1973, Würzburg) is a German film director and screenwriter. Career Zübert started out as a screenwriter for German television. In 2000 he directed and wrote his first feature ''Lammbock'', which was a surprise hit in Ger ...

and starring Jeanne Goursaud,

Dougray Scott Stephen Dougray Scott (born 26 November 1965) is a Scottish actor. He has appeared in the films '' Ever After'' (1998), '' Mission: Impossible 2'' (2000), '' Enigma'' (2001), '' Ripley's Game'' (2002), ''Hitman'' (2007), and '' My Week with Mar ...

, and

Lera Abova Valeria Smirnova (born 4 November 1992), known professionally as Lera Abova, is a German model and actress of Russian origin. She works under more than one modelling agency, including Select Model Management, Oui Management, and Fabbrica Milano Ma ...

. The film was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on April 30, 2025. It is about a former special forces soldier with

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...

(Gorsaud) who is determined to find her young son after he mysteriously disappears inside the US Consulate in Germany.

Plot

Sara Wulf is a former

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

soldier who served in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

until 2017. She was the only survivor of an ambush in which eight soldiers were killed. Sara and her young son Joshua (Josh) visit the U.S. Consulate in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

to apply for a work visa. During their lengthy stay, she leaves Josh in a playroom; when she returns, he is gone. Sara asks

Regional Security Officer A regional security officer (RSO) is a special agent of the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) in charge of a regional security office. The RSO is the principal security attaché and advisor to the U.S. ambassador at American embassies an ...

Eric Kynch and Sergeant Donovan for help. According to Donovan, Sara entered the consulate alone and no child was checked in, and the surveillance footage also shows only Sara without her son. Sara contacts the German police, but German authorities have no authority in American extraterritorial territory. Her mother, Anja, does not believe her either; she suspects that Sara has not taken her

post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a Psychological trauma, traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster ...

(PTSD) pills. Sara is deemed to be having a psychiatric episode, and she is asked to leave the consulate. Instead, Sara goes into hiding in the building and searches for Josh. There she meets Irina, who has been held captive at the consulate for almost two months. Irina offers to help her find Josh, in return for helping her to leave the consulate. Sara finds a bag of illegal drugs in an employee's locker at the consulate, so she suspects Josh may have been kidnapped because he witnessed the transaction. After consulate security finds Sara, Kynch injects her with a sedative and she falls unconscious. When she wakes up,

Consul General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

Deborah Allen is at her bedside. She was contacted by Sara's mother, who is concerned about Sara's PTSD and her delusions following her deployment to Afghanistan, during which Joshua's father was also killed. Later, Sara is freed by Irina, whose real name is Kira Volkova. Her father was a

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

dissident and was killed by the Russian government. Kira fled to the

US embassy The United States has the second largest number of active diplomatic posts of any country in the world after the People's Republic of China, including 272 bilateral posts (embassies and consulates) in 174 countries, as well as 11 permanent miss ...

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

; the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

had brought her to Frankfurt. Kira wants to go to Boston to see her mother, and from there, by sharing incriminating data about Russian crimes on a USB stick, she hopes to free other dissidents. Sara has a job offer with a security firm in the US that is recruiting female ex-soldiers. She discovers that Kynch is behind the offer as a ruse to get her into the consulate and kidnap her, as he was also in Afghanistan. Sara had received a video from a journalist showing Kynch meeting with a Taliban militant. According to the journalist, Kynch is corrupt and was responsible for tipping off the Taliban and enabling them to ambush Sara's group. Sara launches a

diversion Diversion, Diversions, or The Diversion may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Diversion'' (film), a 1980 British television film adapted into the 1987 movie ''Fatal Attraction'' * ''Diversion'' (play), a 1927 work by John Van Druten * '' T ...

so Kira can escape to the US via

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Kynch admits to Sara that he kidnapped Josh and tampered with the surveillance footage. As Sara was the last surviving witness to the Afghanistan incident, and Kynch felt threatened by the journalist's evidence, so his plan was to get Sara concerned about her son and let her run amok in the consulate so he could shoot her in self-defense. Sara kidnaps Kynch's daughter Aileen and takes her to a

safe room A safe room or panic room is a fortified room that is installed in a private residence or business to provide a safe shelter, or hiding place, for the inhabitants in the event of a break in, home invasion, tornado, terror attack, or other th ...

. She initially tries to trade her for Josh, but then changes her mind and releases her. Sara later secretly records Kynch's confession on Aileen's digital recorder. Kynch himself was a soldier and felt unsupported by the military in dealing with trauma, as well as financially disadvantaged. Therefore, he made a deal with the Taliban to sell information and improve his financial situation. After Sara is shot and injured by Kynch, Josh is freed. Eight weeks later, Sara calls Kira; Kynch is now in custody in the US. Donovan and the man at the check-in desk were also involved in Kynch's kidnapping plan. Sara travels to the US with Josh and plans to meet Kira there.

Cast

* Jeanne Goursaud as Sara Wulf, a former Special Forces soldier struggling from PTSD *

as Erik Kynch, a consulate security officer *

as Irina, a refugee hiding at the consulate, whose real name is Kira Volkova * Kayode Akinyemi as Sergeant Donovan * as Deborah Allen * Lara Babalola as a service manager information desk * as Evan * Kris Saddler as Justin Martello * Rada Rae as Aileen Kynch, Erik's daughter * Rickson Guy da Silva as Joshua "Josh" Wulf, Sara's son * Susanne Michel as Anja Wulf, Sara's mother * Samuel Tehrani as the Taliban Leader

Production

The film was produced by

Constantin Film Constantin Film AG is a German film production company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions. Constantin has releas ...

, with Kerstin Schmidbauer as producer and Oliver Berben as executive producer. Filming took place in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

with the support of FISAplus, and ended in late 2023. Filming took place at, among other locations, the Althanstraße University Center, the site of the

Vienna University of Economics and Business The Vienna University of Economics and Business ( , WU) is a public research university in Vienna, Austria. The university received triple accreditation (AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA). History WU was founded on 1 October 1898 as '' k.u.k. Exportakade ...

from 1982 to 2013. Matthias Pötsch was the cameraman, Sara Barone wrote the music, Ueli Christen was in charge of editing, and Cornelia von Braun and Lisa Stutzky were in charge of casting. Heike Lange was the set designer, Anna Zeitlhuber the costume designer, Herbert Verdino the sound designer, and Aurora Hummer the make-up designer. Katharina Haudum served as intimacy coordinator, and Florian Hotz as stunt coordinator.

Release

''Exterritorial'' released by

on April 30, 2025.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mostly positive reviews. Writing for the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

,'' Robert Daniels noted that "the oppressively white and bright setting, the psychological angst felt by Sara and Zübert´s insistence on long takes makes Exterritorial suceed as a frustrating fight for recognition." Jake Dee wrote on ''movieweb.de'' that "Exterritorial is a character-driven redemption story in the guise of a Die Hard-style actioner. Yet, for Sara, it's less about avenging external enemies and more about exterminating her inner demons... with its undeniable entertainment value, it's easy to see why the movie is so popular.

Views

According to ''FlixPatrol'', the film reached number one on the

charts in 79 countries on May 2, 2025. After six weeks the film ranks on number five of the

all time Top Ten with over 83 Millon views. It is the most successful german film on

ever.

References

External links

* * {{Netflix title, id=81571720, title=Exterritorial (2025) 2025 films 2025 action thriller films Netflix original films 2020s German films 2020s action thriller films German action thriller films German-language action thriller films 2020s German-language films Films about kidnapping Films about the illegal drug trade Constantin Film films Films set in Germany Films shot in Vienna Films shot in Austria