< Back to main Festival page

A close-up of a young woman’s face, framed against a glowing orange sky with the sun flaring behind her. Her expression is serious and slightly defiant, her features cast in warm, saturated light. The mood is intense and atmospheric.

What Marielle Knows Was Marielle Weiss

  Frédéric Hambalek  |  Germany

Julia, Tobias, and their eleven-year-old daughter Marielle seem like the perfect family. The parents have high-powered corporate jobs and a stylish home complete with a designer kitchen. Yet beneath this bourgeois facade, trouble is brewing. When a friend at school slaps Marielle on the playground, she inexplicably develops telepathic powers, gaining the ability to see and hear everything her parents do—even when she’s not in the room. Under a state of constant surveillance, the parents’ patience is put to the test, and cracks in their marriage emerge. Through their daughter, they begin to engage in a series of manipulative games, leading to increasingly awkward and absurd situations.

Clever, incisive, and darkly funny, What Marielle Knows careens toward an unforgettable end as the fretting parents must do whatever they can to strip their daughter of her psychic abilities. From this absurd premise, director Frédéric Hambalek builds a hilarious and scathing satire of upper middle-class family life.

 German, French 

 84 minutes

Screenings & Events

There are currently no upcoming screenings of this film.

Media

Film Credits

  •   Philipp Worm, Tobias Walker
  •   Frédéric Hambalek
  •   Anne Fabini
  •   Alexander Griesser
  •   Julia Jentsch, Felix Kramer, Laeni Geiseler, Mehmet Atesçi, Moritz Treuenfels
  •   Walker + Worm Film

Sponsors

With support from

Logo: German Film Office 141x125Logo: Goete Institut - 86x100

You might also enjoy...

In black and white, a young man sits in the window of a Chinese restaurant at night. He is on the phone and looking outside.

Moonluck Wonton

Siddiq Saunderson | U.S.

When Jamie finds a mysterious trombone case one night—the contents of which might change his life forever—he convenes an emergency meeting with his friends. Part …

A woman and a young girl sit outside, in front of a statue of a religious figure. They both have bored expressions on their faces.

The Kidnapping of Arabella

Carolina Cavalli | Italy

The chance meeting between an impish young girl and a superstitious millennial sends them on a riotous journey to author more meaningful lives.

A young man wearing an eyepatch stands in a doorway facing outside, with his arm reaching out and a sad expression.

Nervous Energy

Eve Liu | U.S.

Two fiercely ambitious aspiring filmmakers make a pact to break up with their boyfriends to free them up for the next phase of their careers. …

Tickets on sale now!

See your most-anticipated screenings at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.

GET YOUR TICKETS
close-link
Scroll to Top