''Siberia'' is a 2020 psychological thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the

70th Berlin International Film Festival The 70th annual Berlin International Film Festival took place from 20 February to 1 March 2020. It was the first under the leadership of new Berlin Film Festival heads, business administration director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director C ...

, where it premiered on 24 February 2020.

Premise

Clint, an English speaker, has abandoned his former life and now runs a bar in Siberia where most of the few guests do not speak English. He suffers from hallucinations and embarks on a dog-sled journey to a nearby cave where he confronts his dreams and memories, including of his father, brother, former wife and son, trying to make sense of his life.

Cast

* Willem Dafoe as Clint * Dounia Sichov as wife *

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatrical director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manchurian Candidate'', ...

as magician * Daniel Giménez Cacho as doctor * Cristina Chiriac as Russian woman * Anna Ferrara as Clint's son

Production

The film is the sixth collaboration between Ferrara and Dafoe. The film also features Ferrara's wife Cristina and daughter, Anna, who plays Clint's son. The film was inspired by

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

's '' The Red Book''.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on 24 February 2020. It was released theatrically in Germany on 2 July 2020 by Port au Prince Pictures and in Italy on 20 August 2020 by Nexo Digital. In the United States, ''Siberia'' was released in select theaters and for digital rental on 18 June 2021 by Lionsgate.

Reception

Box office

''Siberia'' grossed $23,626 in Italy.

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an

approval rating An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus states, "Willem Dafoe delivers another outstanding performance in the central role, although it's undercut by ''Siberia'' frustratingly elliptical approach." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Guy Lodge of '' Variety'' called it a "beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into geographical and psychological wilderness that will delight some and mystify many others".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Siberia 2020 films 2020 psychological thriller films German psychological thriller films Italian psychological thriller films Mexican psychological thriller films 2020s English-language films English-language German films English-language Italian films English-language Mexican films Films directed by Abel Ferrara Films scored by Joe Delia 2020s Italian films 2020s German films 2020s Mexican films Films set in Siberia