My Wife Cries

Thomas (Vladimir Vulević) is a forty-year-old crane operator. On an ordinary workday, he receives a call from his wife (Agathe Bonitzer), who asks him to pick her up from the hospital. Thomas finds his wife crying, she is unable to explain what has happened. From that moment on, nothing will ever be the same.

The two-time Silver Bear winner Angela Schanelec's characters exist in a state of limbo. They reflect on the hidden poetry of love, the body, and a handball match, as well as the tragedies of everyday life and the longing for connection, all while trying to come to terms with their marital problems.

Berlin International Film Festival - Competition
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival 2026
BFI London Film Festival

Angela Schanelec is a prominent figure in contemporary German cinema. She studied at the DFFB (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin), where her mentors were Harun Farocki and Hartmut Bitomsky. It was there that she met Christian Petzold and Thomas Arslan, with whom they founded the movement known as the New Berlin School. Schanelec's works are characterized by a restrained, detached style of depiction, as well as the simultaneous presence of lightness and gravity. Her films are largely composed of lyrical, static images loosely connected by the plot, as the emphasis lies not on the plot itself but on conveying a sense of being. Her works have premiered at prestigious festivals such as the Cannes, Toronto, and Berlin International Film Festivals. Schanelec has won the Silver Bear twice at the Berlin International Film Festival: in 2019 for I Was at Home, But, and in 2023 for the screenplay of Music. My Wife Cries also premiered in Berlin. The film was shot by Marius Panduru, who was also the director of photography for Radu Jude's The Diary of a Chambermaid. Both films will first be available in Hungarian at BIFF.

Places in Cities (1998)
I Was at Home, But (2019)
Music (2023)

Original title: Meine Frau weint
Director: Angela Schanelec
Cast: Vladimir Vulević, Agathe Bonitzer, Birte Schöink, Pauline Rebmann, Ben Carter, Clara Gostynski, Thorbjörn Björnsson, Laure-Lucile Simon, Ninel Geiger
Cinematography: Marius Panduru RSC
Screenwriter: Angela Schanelec
Producers: Kirill Krasovski, Saïd Ben Saïd, Kevin Chneiweiss, Paul Hase
Editor: Angela Schanelec
Music: Rainer Gerlach
Hungarian Distributor: -
Colour: colour
Run Time: 93 mins