''Sleeping with a Tiger'' () is a 2024 Austrian

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...

directed by Anja Salomonowitz. The film starring

Birgit Minichmayr Birgit Minichmayr (born 3 April 1977) is an Austrian actress born in Linz, Austria. She studied drama at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna. For her work in Maren Ade's film Everyone Else she won Silver Bear for Best Actress at 59th Berlin ...

tells the story about the artist

Maria Lassnig Maria Lassnig (8 September 1919 – 6 May 2014) was an Austrian artist known for her painted self-portraits and her theory of "body awareness".Attias, Lauri''Maria Lassnig'', ''Frieze'', May 1996. She was the first female artist to win the Gran ...

. It was selected in the Forum section at the

74th Berlin International Film Festival The 74th annual Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, took place between 15 and 25 February 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong'o was named the Jury President for the main competition. This ye ...

, where it had its world premiere on 17 February 2024. It was released theatrically on 12 April 2024 in Austria.

Synopsis

''Sleeping with a Tiger'' is a hybrid of genres about the Austrian painter

. It depicts her struggle in the male-dominated art world, her struggle for her art, her quest for her very personal artistic expression in which she expressed her pain on the canvas. And then also a film about her great artistic achievement. The film is a biopic with a unique style. The painter is always portrayed by the same actress: no matter what age Maria Lassnig is shown in the film - whether 6, 14, 64 or 94 years old - the same person plays her, without any make-up to alter her age, so she always looks the same. She travels through time as a timeless figure. This is an artistic interpretation of her mental state. It is said that

was ageless, wise as a young girl and youthful as an old woman. This means that this film is not really a biopic: it is a poetic approach to the fact that our soul never changes.

Cast

* Johanna Orsini as Mathilde Lassnig * Lukas Watzl as Hans Werner Poschauko * Oskar Haag as Arnulf Rainer * Maria Nicolini as Maria Lassning's grandmother *

Johannes Silberschneider Johannes Silberschneider (born 13 December 1958 in Styria, Austria), is an Austrian actor. He studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar. He has appeared in many films and TV films and serials. His motion picture appearances include in ''The ...

as Wilhelm Dachauer * Saladin Dellers as

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and art historian. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

* Carl Achleitner as Priest * Grischka Voss as Expert * Max Ortner as Curator * Laura Bleimund as Andrea Teschke * Raphael Nicholas as Art Expert * Adrian Moskowicz as gallery owner * Christine Buchmann as NY Gallery Assistant * Dominik Raneburger as Father * Justine Parsons as Journalist

Production

The film produced by the Austrian coop99 with Antonin Svoboda as producer, has the Stadtkino Filmverleih as the distributor for Austria. The production was supported by the Austrian Film Institute, the Vienna Film Fund, Film Location Austria (FISA), the state of Lower Austria and the state of Carinthia.

Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF ; , ) is the national public broadcaster of Austria. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Austria was the last country in ...

are television participants for the film, which is directed and written by Anja Salomonowitz, with Jo Molitoris as the director of photography and Joana Scrinzi as the editor. Filming took place over 28 days from 17 March 2022 in Vienna,

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

and

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. Film was also shot in the coat of arms hall of the Landhaus Klagenfurt, where Lassnig's exhibition from 1947 was recreated, and in Feistritz ob Grades, where the painter died in 2014. The filming ended on 3 May 2022.

Release

''Sleeping with a Tiger'' premiered globally on February 17, 2024, as part of the

in the Forum section. The film was released theatrically in Austria on April 12, 2024, by Stadtkino Filmverleih.

Reception

Susanne Gottlieb reviewing the film at Berlinale for

Cineuropa Cineuropa is an online information portal dedicated to the promotion of European cinema. It publishes daily news, reviews, interviews, and industry reports and maintains a database of information. It is available in four languages: English, Fre ...

wrote, "Delving into the life of Austrian painter Maria Lassnig with a non-linear approach, Anja Salomonowitz breaks with the traditional biopic while also keeping her subject an enigma."

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title
''Sleeping with a Tiger''
at Berlinale
''Sleeping with a Tiger''
at Stadtkino Filmverleih 2024 films 2024 biographical drama films 2024 independent films Austrian biographical drama films Austrian independent films 2020s German-language films Films shot in Austria