Antares

Gotz Spielmann is a true auteur. His film-making style is instantly recognizable, weaving a spell. What's going on in front of the camera can be merely someone shutting a door, a couple having explicit sex, a violent car crash, two people having an argument, but that camera is not moving. This makes you highly aware of everything in the frame and everything is there for a reason. You notice colors, especially white, black and red. Virtually no music, except some smoky sax over the credits. His constant use of medium shots remind you that you are not "there," you are just an observer.

The movie portrays a highly contrived, but nevertheless convincing, story on the theme of sexual betrayal. Three couples who live in the same apartment building (but do not know each other) are introduced and their stories are told, one at a time. We meet a very reserved nurse and mother who is having a passionate affair behind her husband's back. Then, a supermarket checkout clerk, not emotionally stable, who has falsely told her Yugoslavian boyfriend that she is pregnant in hopes of hanging on to him. Finally, a divorced woman dealing with a racist and thuggish ex-husband who won't let go.

As the movie progresses, odd events get explained. Once, a couple walking in the courtyard hear a woman scream. Later in the movie we see the scene of the screaming woman.

The movie generates an enormous amount of suspense as it unfolds. Will the nurse confess to her husband? Will the checkout clerk come clean about her false pregnancy? Will the divorced woman be seriously harmed by her increasingly erratic ex-husband? As the last question, it is answered in a harrowing psychological confrontation that will have you on the edge of your seat. What people are eating and where they eat it also seems to matter.

It leave it to others to explain the meaning of the roses in a vase, the dog trainer, the hooker on the corner and other apparent signifiers in the film.

If you liked this, be sure to check out Spielmann's "Revanche," which is even better.

Solid believable acting and good production values ...but I couldn't care any less about any of the characters. The plot is jumbled, superficial and not very engaging. Nothing gets resolved and the ending was very disappointing ...but by then; I was glad it was over.

I watch this flick to explore the erotic genre , and its not bad at all you can give it a try , the movie is about three parallel stories running simultaneously and some how connected to each other

The film offers some real sex scenes , there are two of them in the beginning which are really erotic and you will enjoy totally after that the movie started to turn as drama is added in it.

So if you are looking for a movie with complete erotic genre then that's not the right one and if you are looking for a film that have drama with some romance then its the right one.

In a nutshell Antares is a terrific drama/erotic movie and I was pretty much surprised after watching this.

Some solid performance and quality for 2004 Austrian cinema. the plot is simple straight forward about 3 stories which are connected to each other. A good movie but ending is not very satisfied / un-finished.

some sex scenes are very hot. seems like unsimulated one.

------------spoilers---------------

the 1st story about couple seems completed, about a cheating wife who lacks passion or desire from husband , so she goes for other man. and in the end. husband wants her back?.... simp..

2nd is not completed , about a gf who faked are pregnancy and her cheating bf. in the end she is ok with bf even she knows he is cheating ? .

3rd story is kinda completed , about abusive husband, karma hit him in end.

Antares is based on secrets and lies in the classic Austrian style, we know from directors Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl. Antares focuses on three women, whose paths cross in a building complex. A married nurse who has a lover that hardly speaks. The lover is only interested in sex and taking nude pictures of her. The sex and pictures are a tad explicit. The other is a young girl who is lying to her boyfriend that she is pregnant. The boyfriend is happy, but that does not stop him from sleeping with the third woman, a divorced woman who has problems getting rid of her ex-husband. The three destinies bond together in a refined way.