Three Peaks

Aaron (Alexander Fehling) has been happily involved with French girl Lea (Bérénice Bejo) for two years. For the past two years, he's also been struggling to be a good father figure to Lea's son Tristan (Arian Montgomery). But he is still too attached to his father George, whom Lea left for Aaron. With a lot of affection Aaron tries to win the boy's love - and there are always little moments when he even seems to succeed. A vacation together in a mountain hut in the Dolomites should finally weld the three together. But more and more it becomes clear to Aaron that he is not wanted as a second father - neither by Tristan nor by Lea. To save the situation, he wants to hike alone with the boy to the Three Peaks. But this idea soon proves to be a fatal mistake.

With Three Peaks, director Jan Zabeil has staged an atmospheric drama that scores with strong actors, some very poignant moments and a depressing atmosphere. For example, when Tristan whispers a hesitant Papa into Aaron's ear, Alexander Fehling's acting makes it absolutely clear what meaning this little word has for Aaron. The audience can understand why he cares so much for the boy and why it frustrates him so much when Tristan constantly talks to his biological father on the phone and then distances himself from Aaron. At the same time, the boy's dilemma also becomes clear. On the one hand, he likes Aaron and enjoys the fact that he truly cares for him sacrificially. But showing him too much affection would be like betraying his father and the boy can't bear that.

He still secretly hopes that Aaron is just going through a phase and that his parents will find their way back to each other. Zabeil does a very good job of establishing and believably building on this conflict with just a few words. However, he also gets bogged down in a lot of very drawn out scenes where nothing much really happens and they accomplish the opposite of what they intend. Instead of adding to the atmosphere, they unnecessarily slow down the drama and really just tug at the audience's nerves.

The last act, about which not too much shall be revealed here, also leaves an ambivalent feeling. On the one hand, the director doesn't compromise here, which is as disturbing as it is interesting. On the other hand, the outbreak of conflict here of all places feels very contrived and a bit too thickly applied, which doesn't really want to fit in with the completely stripped back staging of the rest of the film. Drei Zinnen is in parts a very gripping and psychologically exciting drama, but in the end it is crushed by its own ambitions. The pictures and the good actors make up for much of this, but unfortunately not all. And that's why I only give it a: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp