Formen moderner Erschöpfung

The story of two people going through crises coincides with the reality of the last sanatorium of its kind. For over 100 years, people have come to this place in the hope of being cured. So do Nina and Henri, both in mid-life, burnt out, and from different backgrounds. Their paths cross between the dining room and therapy, at a time when they are struggling to find their inner peace. Then the place is snowed in and everything becomes slow and quiet. The ghosts and stories from the long corridors become their companions. While the two read each other the riot act and try to forget their loneliness, a historian digs through the house archives for documents from the early days of the sanatorium. She researches the sanatorium as a focal point of the modern history of exhaustion and traces a narrative from neurasthenia to the inner restlessness of the present for her dissertation. The house becomes a setting for an archaeology of exhaustion.

Directed by Sascha Hilpert, Formen moderner Erschöpfung leans on a strong ensemble — Birgit Unterweger, Rafael Stachowiak, Wolf List — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 2025.