The Complexities of Confinement: Gender, Abuse and Cate Shortland's 'Berlin Syndrome'

Subverting the more conventional 'prisoner befriends captor' plotline, Berlin Syndrome depicts the combative and, in time, seemingly congenial dynamic between a female Australian backpacker and the German man who has trapped her in his apartment. According to Glenn Dunks, the film also incites reflection on unequal gender relationships as well as society's deficient sensitivities towards abuse victims.

Additional keywords:
trauma, violence, misogyny, sexism, Big Little Lies, Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt, survivor.