Film review: Peacock

An Austrian/German co-production, this focusses upon Matthias (Albrecht Schuch), a young Viennese 30something who works for a business that rents him out, but not as an escort or sex worker. His vocation is to fill important roles in clients’ lives, so he’s paid to be: a supposed pilot at a kid’s bring-Dad-to-school day; a sophisticated partner at a snooty concert; a devoted son for his social-climbing ‘father’; and more. And he’s damn god at it too.

However, things at his fancy home with doctor partner Sophia (Julia Franz Richter) are bad, and she’s increasingly unable to deal with his infuriating agreeableness, as his job bleeds over into his life. She’s quietly furious about an ugly new decoration, she buys a huge Great Dane hoping he’ll be angry (Matthias and the mutt stare blankly at each other), and she finally can’t take it anymore. Her key subtitled line is, “I can’t feel the real you.”

Matthias’ attempts at grief in her absence lead to him travelling to a rural retreat and meeting Norwegian (but English-speaking) Ina (cool Theresa Frostad Eggesbø), and there’s trouble when a previous client’s menacing, umbrella-whacking husband (Branko Samarovski as Johann) comes after him. And while Matthias is forced to feel something during this eventful narrative, he’s still emotionally challenged, and Wenger’s script and Schuch’s performance both impressively ensure that he doesn’t become annoying.

We also can’t help but laugh at his stifled pain, even as he falls apart and, of course, loses it in seriously European fashion.