Our after-hours “Convulsions” sidebar kicks off with Sabrina Mertens’ entrancing and disturbing debut feature, set in 1970s Germany. Stephanie is a lively child who enjoys board games and playdates with neighbors, but her life becomes increasingly more isolated at the hands of her absent, temperamental father and mentally unstable mother. Unfolding as a beautiful series of intricate tableaux vivants (57 instances of still life) over weeks, months, even years of creeping dread, this equally sublime and crushing portrait of trauma and the invisible mold that can rot an entire household is not for the faint of heart.
(In German with English Subtitles)