MQFF NOTES: Tomcat (2016, Dir. Händl Klaus)

People will say there's a scene.

People will say they can't spoil it.

People will decry its brutality.

People will have you on the lookout for what is to come.

But you can't be prepared. And you can't be spoiled. If anything, your vigilance will only add to the exceptional tension that drives Klaus Händl's Tomcat.

Andres and Stefan (Philipp Hochmair and Lukas Turtur) share an idyllic existence somewhere in upper middle class Germany. He's a conductor; he's a horn player. They've adopted a cat whom they both adore. They sex. They host dinner parties. They snuggle with their cat.

Then it happens.

What it is is as immaterial as it is inexcusable. And that inexcusablility colours everything that has gone before and, more tensely, everything that comes after. Throw in any unpalatable discovery about one's partner and the ecosystem can sour as it does here.

Is forgiveness possible? Is re-offending possible? Is the relationship irretrievable? How long and how cold can a shoulder be? Writer director Händl works this dynamic to perfection, both in its idealistic setup and its nerve-wracking extended denouement (which effectively runs for half of the film) - the first providing the necessary goodwill to fuel the second. The question being whether there is enough to stop everything from being extinguised.

Tomcat provides a whole new take on edge of your seat and the experience is far from pleasant. It's a slow burn discomfort that provides space enough for musing on all the potential parallels, none of which are particularly savoury.

Probably not a film to watch over and over. Then, you won't need to. This one will stick with you.

And the cat scenes are so sweet.

★★★★

Trailer:

Tomcat screened as part of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2017. 

You can check out other films from the festival here.