You likely want to bring a box of tissues when you go see Four Minus Three (Vier Minus Drei), the new feature from Austrian filmmaker Adrian Goiginger (The Best of All Worlds, The Fox), which is based on a true story and world premieres in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival. What awaits you is an emotional journey through family, death, grief, memory, hope, and tears that also features clowns – yes, clowns!
The movie stars Valerie Pachner (The Stories, Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden, A Hidden Life). She and her partner Heli (Robert Stadlober) are professional clowns, living an alternative, joy-filled life with their two children. But then Barbara loses Heli and the children in a car accident. “In the face of unspeakable loss, her belief in humor, hope, and humanity is put to the ultimate test,” notes a synopsis of Four Minus Three. “Can her way of seeing the world — through both its light and shadow — help her find a way back to life? She bets she’ll laugh again.”
Stefanie Reinsperger, Hanno Koffler, and Ronald Zehrfeld are also part of the cast. The script by Senad Halilbašić is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Barbara Pachl-Eberhart. The production companies are 2010 Entertainment in Austria and Giganten Film in Germany. Goiginger directed the film and produced it with Peter Wildling, Gerrit Klein, Martin Pfeil, and David Stöllinger.
“I first read the synopsis of Four Minus Three at a time when my second child had just been born. My initial reaction was that the story of a woman who loses her husband and children in one fell swoop was too intense for me,” Goiginger highlights in a director’s statement. “It was only through Senad Halilbasic’s first draft of the screenplay and his perspective on the story that I realized that it was more about hope and life after the accident than about telling a tragedy. That made me want to make this film at all costs.”
During the “incredibly demanding, emotional shoot for everyone, both in front of and behind the camera,” the director felt that his stars anchored the film. “I’ve rarely seen anyone commit to a role the way Valerie Pachner does: 100 percent emotionally invested in every take, regardless of the consequences,” he says. “Robert Stadlober also brought so much personality, edge and humor to his character.”
Four Minus Three has a German distributor in Alamode Film, while its Austrian distributor is Polyfilm. THR can now debut an exclusive clip from Four Minus Three. It shows Pachner, as Barbara, remembering happy times with her loved ones. Check out the clip below.
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