Christoph Hochhäusler’s THE CITY BELOW (UNTER DIR DIE STADT) is an interesting film with some fine acting performances. However, it falls slightly short due to its muddled approach to a serious but confused script.

Roland (Robert Hunger-Bühler) is a powerful Frankfurt banking figure who takes an immediate attraction to a subordinate’s wife, Svenja (Nicolette Krebitz). Trying to break down Svenja’s resistance, he conspires to have her husband sent to what at first appears to be a promotion in Indonesia. When he leaves, an affair begins on the backdrop of a massive takeover deal for the company.

Svenja’s desire to do things spontaneously goes some way to explaining her reciprocal interest in an emotionless middle-aged banker.

The acting is strong, the standout performance coming from Krebitz. Her quietly fascinating portrayal of Svenja’s desire to do things spontaneously goes some way to explaining her reciprocal interest in an emotionless middle-aged banker. Contrasting this with the precise, calculated and cold world of the banking automatons surrounding her, represented by Roland and his world of cold glass and steel skyscrapers, brings the film’s roots.

When the film branches out, however, it starts to sag. The centre of the film feels a lost in a confused script, unsure of whether this is a tale of personal drama refracted through the prism of global capitalism or vice-versa. As a result, it ends up a highly distracted mongrel that lacks engagement on either.

Several minor strands outside the adulterous relationship are severely tacked on and unresolved, testing our patience by distracting from the interesting emotional and thematic core of the film.