Berlin, 1810. Young Romantic poet Heinrich von Kleist fails to convince his cousin to join him in a suicide pact—the ultimate expression of their love. He then falls for the married Henriette Vogel. At first, his offer baffles Henriette, but she reconsiders after learning she is terminally ill.

Don’t expect a conventional costume drama here! Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner (Little Joe) takes up an infamous bad romance in 19th-century Berlin to make her fascinating twist on the genre. A sharp and tragic sense of the absurd flows beneath the film’s meticulously elegant surface.