FAMILY THERAPY

 
 

Photo by Mitja Ličen

 
 

Feature film, 2024
Directed by Sonja Prosenc
Produced by Monoo
Co-produced by RTV Slovenija, Incipit film, Incitus Films, Wolfgang i Dolly, and Living Pictures
More information: monoo.si

Odrešitev za začetnike (Family Therapy) revolves around a Slovene nouveau riche family living in a glass house, exuding an air of detached superiority. This serves as a satirical backdrop for a humorous reimagining of the premise from Pasolini's Teorema: a young stranger arrives at the family household, disrupting the delicate balance of the family's dynamics and revealing a world of chaos and dysfunctional relationships.

The cast includes Katarina Stegnar, Marko Mandić, Aliocha Schneider, Kristoffer Joner, and Mila Bezjak.

The film, the third collaboration between directress Sonja Prosenc and Silence, was part of the 2024 Tribeca Festival official selection. The film was also screened in the Competition Programme of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival.

The score features electronic and orchestral pieces. The latter were performed by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. The main theme is an adaptation of What Power Art Thou, an aria from Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur.

The soundtrack was well-received. In her review of Family Therapy, Variety’s Alissa Simon described the score as “striking”. Delo’s Pia Prezelj praised the “excellent and excellently utilised” music, whereas Mladina’s Marcel Štefančič Jr complimented “Silence’s maestosos”. Screen Daily’s Amber Wilkinson wrote: “The moving Baroque strings and brassy grandiosity are a perfect reflection of Aleksander’s initial attitude, fittingly and increasingly undercut by more modern moments of electro dissonance.”