Whatever people no longer need, they dump in the basement. But some pursue their obsessions there, in hiding. Think brass-band music and opera arias, expensive furniture and cheap men’s jokes, sexuality and sadism, fitness and fascism, whips and dolls…

Exploring an unseen side of Austria, provocateur Ulrich Seidl wanders into actual basements to look at the darkest desires of its inhabitants. Often hilarious and grotesque—yet somehow compassionate—this is a startling look at power dynamics, ranging from S&M to the festering seeds of fascism.