THE UNIVERSAL THEORY Trailer (2024) Olivia Ross

THE UNIVERSAL THEORY Trailer (2024) Olivia Ross

THE UNIVERSAL THEORY Trailer (2024) Olivia Ross
© 2024 - Picturehouse

"I know where the woman you're looking for is." Picturehouse has revealed the official UK trailer for the mysterious film The Universal Theory, a mind-boggling sci-fi-tinged thriller set in the Swiss mountains. This first premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival one year ago under the original title The Theory of Everything, and it earned mostly mixed reviews (mine is here). We also posted the US trailer recently. The noir film is set in 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud in the sky, a boom under the mountain. It's "a quantum mechanical thriller in black & white." Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, The Universal Theory unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. Lead by a fantastic cast & interspersed with a dynamic soundtrack, The Theory of Everything is an intellectual sci-fi film about the contingency of our world, in which much is possible and hardly anything is necessary. Starring Jan Bülow as Leinert, Olivia Ross as Karin, Hanns Zischler, Gottfried Breitfuss, David Bennent, & Philippe Graber. This one is the best of the three trailers for this film, makes me really want to rewatch it and figure out more of what is going on in the story.

Here's the official UK trailer (+ quad poster) for Timm Kröger's The Universal Theory, from YouTube:

The Universal Theory Poster

You can rewatch the German trailer for Timm Kröger's The Universal Theory right here or the US trailer.

1962: Johannes Leinert travels with his doctoral advisor to a physics congress at the Hotel Esplanade in the Swiss Alps. An Iranian scientist is to give a groundbreaking lecture on quantum mechanics here. But the speaker, who is expected to deliver nothing less than a theory of everything, is late and the high society spends the interim with witty dinner parties and elegant skiing excursions. A mysterious pianist (Ross) captivates Johannes, but something's not right about her. She knows things about him she can't possibly know... When one of the German physicists dies in a monstrous way, two investigators enter the scene, suspecting murder. As bizarre cloud formations appear in the sky, the pianist disappears without a trace and Johannes gets on the trail of a secret that has taken root deep beneath the mountain. (Text translated.)

The Universal Theory, also known as The Theory of Everything or just Die Theorie von Allem originally in German, is directed by the German cinematographer / filmmaker Timm Kröger, director of the film The Council of Birds, and the doc Das leicht beunruhigende Schaukeln bei der Fahrt ins Tal, previously. The screenplay is written by Roderick Warich and Timm Kröger. Produced by David Bohun and Lixi Frank. This initially premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival last year (read our review). Oscilloscope Labs will debut The Universal Theory in select US theaters starting September 27th, 2024. For info visit the official site.
"This young man here is working on something very significant." Oscilloscope Labs has revealed an official US trailer for a film titled The Universal Theory, a mysterious sci-fi-tinged thriller set deep in the Swiss mountains. This first premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival one year ago under the original title The Theory of Everything, and it earned mostly mixed reviews (mine is here). The noir film is set in 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud in the sky, a booming mystery under the mountain. It's "a quantum mechanical thriller in black & white." Driven by astonishing twists and improbable coincidences, The Universal Theory unravels a captivatingly complex chronicle with brain-tickling suspense. Cast with a fantastic ensemble and interspersed with a dynamic soundtrack, The Theory of Everything is an intellectual film about the contingency of our world, in which much is possible and hardly anything is necessary. Starring Jan Bülow as Leinert, Olivia Ross as Karin, Hanns Zischler, Gottfried Breitfuss, David Bennent, & Philippe Graber. This is such a radical little film that I hope gets seen by more and more people now that it's finally getting US release. Take a look at the footage below.

Here's the official US trailer (+ new poster) for Timm Kröger's The Universal Theory, from YouTube:

The Universal Theory Poster

You can rewatch the initial German trailer for Timm Kröger's The Universal Theory right here for more.

1962: Johannes Leinert travels with his doctoral advisor to a physics congress at the Hotel Esplanade in the Swiss Alps. An Iranian scientist is to give a groundbreaking lecture on quantum mechanics here. But the speaker, who is expected to deliver nothing less than a theory of everything, is late and the high society spends the interim with witty dinner parties and elegant skiing excursions. A mysterious pianist (Ross) captivates Johannes, but something's not right about her. She knows things about him she can't possibly know... When one of the German physicists dies in a monstrous way, two investigators enter the scene, suspecting murder. As bizarre cloud formations appear in the sky, the pianist disappears without a trace and Johannes gets on the trail of a secret that has taken root deep beneath the mountain. (Text translated.)

The Universal Theory, also known as The Theory of Everything or just Die Theorie von Allem originally in German, is directed by the German cinematographer / filmmaker Timm Kröger, director of the film The Council of Birds, and the doc Das leicht beunruhigende Schaukeln bei der Fahrt ins Tal, previously. The screenplay is written by Roderick Warich and Timm Kröger. Produced by David Bohun and Lixi Frank. This initially premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival last year (read our review). Oscilloscope Labs will debut The Universal Theory in select US theaters starting September 27th, 2024. For info visit the official site.
The Universal Theory

Theatrical release poster
German Die Theorie von Allem
Directed by Timm Kröger
Written by
Timm Kröger
Roderick Warich
Produced by
Heino Deckert
Viktoria Stolpe
Timm Kröger
Tina Börner
Lixi Frank
David Bohun
Sarah Born
Rajko Jazbec
Dario Schoch
Starring
Jan Bülow [de]
Olivia Ross [fr]
Hanns Zischler
Gottfried Breitfuss
David Bennent
Philippe Graber
Cinematography Roland Stuprich[1]
Edited by Jann Anderegg[1]
Music by Diego Ramos Rodríguez[1]
Production
companies
Ma.ja.de. Fiction
The Barricades
Panama Film
Catpics AG
ZDF/ARTE
Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen / SRG SSR
Distributed by
Neue Visionen (Germany)
Stadtkino (Austria)
Filmcoopi (Switzerland)
Release dates
3 September 2023 (Venice)
26 October 2023 (Germany)
10 November 2023 (Austria)
1 February 2024 (Switzerland)
Running time 118 minutes[1]
Countries
Germany
Austria
Switzerland
Languages
German[1]
French[1]
Swiss German[1]
Box office $531,032[2]
The Universal Theory (German: Die Theorie von Allem, lit. 'The Theory of Everything') is a 2023 mystery thriller film directed by Timm Kröger,[3][4] from a screenplay written by Kröger with Roderick Warich.[5]

The film was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it premiered on 3 September 2023. It was theatrically released in Germany on 26 October 2023.

Plot
In 1962, physicist Johannes travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Swiss Alps. It is there that he meets Karin, a jazz pianist, who is suspiciously knowledgeable about Johannes. A series of mysterious deaths occur at the mountainous site, and the two venture to uncover the secrets hidden below. The story includes an Iranian guest, a strange cloud formation in the sky and quantum mechanics.

Cast
Jan Bülow [de] as Johannes Leinert
Olivia Ross [fr] as Karin Hönig
Hanns Zischler as Dr. Julius Strathen
Gottfried Breitfuss as Professor Blumberg
David Bennent as Kommissar Arnold
Philippe Graber as Kommissar Amrein
Ladina Carla von Frisching as Susi (adult)
Imogen Kogge as Anna Leinert
Emanuel Waldburg-Zeil as Johnny
Vivienne Bayley as Susi (child)
Dirk Böhling as Moderator
Paul Wolff-Plottegg as Dr. Martin Koch
Peter Hottinger as Empfangschef
Dana Herfurth as Minna
Joey Zimmermann as Polizeibeamter
Eva Maria Jost as Anna Leinert Jung
Jonathan Wirtz as Johannes (child)
Production
The Universal Theory was produced by Germany's Ma.ja.de. Fiction and The Barricades, in co-production with Austria's Panama Film and Switzerland's Catpics AG.[6] Principal photography began in January 2022 at the ski resort of St. Jakob in Defereggen, Austria. The film was shot in black-and-white using CinemaScope.[5] Filming was projected to wrap at the end of February.[6]

Music
Diego Ramos Rodriguez composed the film's score, with additional music from David Schweighart and Viola Hammer. Oscilloscope Laboratories released the soundtrack in December 2023.[7] A limited edition vinyl was released in August 2024.[8]

Track listing
No. Title Length
1. "Prologue" 3:17
2. "Departure" 2:24
3. "The Train to the Alps" 2:12
4. "In the Chapel" 3:00
5. "Johanina" 3:26
6. "Professor Blumberg" 5:20
7. "On the Ski Slope" 3:59
8. "Blumberg's Corpse" 4:16
9. "Interlude - Karin's Theme" 4:28
10. "Homecoming" 2:07
11. "Mistrust and Separation" 3:36
12. "Johnny Shows the Way" 8:33
13. "Where is Karin?" 7:33
14. "Under Suspicion" 4:14
15. "The Chase" 1:27
16. "Epilogue" 9:28
Total length: 69:20
Release
The Universal Theory was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival,[9] where it had its world premiere on 3 September 2023.[1] International sales were handled by Paris-based company Charades.[10] In early October 2023, it was announced that Oscilloscope Laboratories had acquired U.S. distribution rights.[3] The film was theatrically released in Germany by Neue Visionen on 26 October 2023.[11] Stadtkino Filmverleih released the film in Austria on 10 November 2023.[12] Filmcoopi Zürich released the film in Switzerland on 1 February 2024.[13]

Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[15]

Accolades
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
Chicago International Film Festival 22 October 2023 Gold Hugo The Universal Theory Nominated [16]
German Film Awards 3 May 2024 Best Film Nominated [17]
[18]
Best Director Timm Kröger Nominated
Best Cinematography Roland Stuprich Won
Best Score Diego Ramos Rodríguez Nominated
Best Production Design Cosima Vellenzer, Anika Klatt Won
Best Visual Effects Kariem Saleh, Adrian Meyer Won
German Film Critics Association Awards 18 February 2024 Best Film The Universal Theory Nominated [19]
Best Actor Gottfried Breitfuss Nominated
Best Screenplay Timm Kröger, Roderick Warich Nominated
Best Cinematography Roland Stuprich Nominated
Best Music Diego Ramos Rodríguez Won [20]
Utopiales 4 November 2023 Grand prix du jury des Utopiales The Universal Theory Won [21]
Venice Film Festival 9 September 2023 Golden Lion Timm Kröger Nominated [22]
References
"Die Theorie von allem". La Biennale di Venezia. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
"The Universal Theory (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 30 September 2024.
Ritman, Alex (5 October 2023). "Oscilloscope Acquires Venice Competition Entry 'The Universal Theory' for U.S. (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
Kiang, Jessica (3 September 2023). "'The Universal Theory' Review: A Sumptuous Homage to Hitchcock Packaged as a Metaphysical Noir". Variety. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
Barraclough, Leo (21 January 2022). "First Look: Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross Star in Mystery Thriller 'The Theory of Everything' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
Vena, Teresa (25 January 2022). "Shooting for the historical thriller The Theory of Everything starts in Austria". Cineuropa. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
"'The Universal Theory' Soundtrack Released". Film Music Reporter. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
"The Universal Theory Soundtrack - Limited Edition Vinyl". Oscilloscope Laboratories. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
Tartaglione, Nancy (25 July 2023). "Venice Film Festival Lineup: Mann, Lanthimos, Fincher, DuVernay, Cooper, Besson, Coppola, Hamaguchi In Competition; Polanski, Allen, Anderson, Linklater Out Of Competition – Full List". Deadline. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
Leffler, Rebecca (25 July 2023). "Charades, Anonymous Content team on genre-bending Venice Competition title 'The Theory of Everything' (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
"Die Theorie von Allem" (in German). Neue Visionen. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
"Die Theorie von Allem" (in German). Stadtkino Wien. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
Blum, Pascal (22 January 2024). "Vier neue Schweizer Filme, die überraschen". Tages-Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 29 August 2024.
"The Theory of Everything". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
"The Universal Theory". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
Kay, Jeremy (14 September 2023). "'Fallen Leaves', 'About Dry Grasses', 'La Chimera' among Chicago fest international line-up (exclusive)". Screendaily. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
"Filmdrama "Sterben" für neun Lolas nominiert". ZDFheute (in German). 19 March 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
Kilb, Andreas (4 May 2024). "Es war uns eine Ehre". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
Küper, Anne (24 January 2024). "Nominierungen für den Preis der deutschen Filmkritik 2023 stehen fest". Verband der deutschen Filmkritik e.V. (in German). Retrieved 10 September 2024.
Mensch, Marc (18 February 2024). "Roter Himmel zweifach von deutschen Kritikern geehrt". Blickpunkt:Film (in German). Retrieved 9 September 2024.
"Palmarès 2023". Les Utopiales. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
"Venezia 80 Competition". La Biennale di Venezia. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
External links
The Universal Theory at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
Categories: 2023 films2023 thriller films2020s French-language films2020s German films2020s German-language films2020s mystery thriller filmsAustrian black-and-white filmsAustrian mystery filmsAustrian thriller filmsCinemaScope filmsFilms about physicistsFilms set in 1962Films set in the AlpsFilms set in SwitzerlandGerman black-and-white filmsGerman mystery thriller filmsSwiss black-and-white filmsSwiss German-language filmsSwiss mystery filmsSwiss thriller films
A new trailer and poster have debuted for the upcoming movie release The Universal Theory. According to the press notes, the film is said to draw on the cinema of masters like Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and Fritz Lang. Timm Kröger directs from a screenplay he wrote with Roderick Warich.

Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross, Hanns Zischler and Gottfried Breitfuss lead the cast.

This one is set for screens on 13th December through Picturehouse Entertainment.

Amongst the towering landscape of the Swiss Alps, a gifted young physicist meets an elusive pianist – one who knows things about him that he’s never told another living soul. Before he knows it, his curiosity traps him inside a mind-bending metaphysical web of murder and mystery. Set in 1962, against the backdrop of cold war tensions and a world of paranoid conspiracy, the secrets that lie beneath the mountains are slowly revealed as his investigations deepen and the gripping truth is revealed.

Check out the new trailer below.
Director: Timm Kröger Run Time: 118 min. Release Year: 2023 Language: German

Starring: Gottfried Breitfuß, Hanns Zischler, Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross, Philippe Graber

Johannes, a doctor of physics, travels with his doctoral supervisor to a scientific congress in the Alps. A series of mysterious incidents occur on site. He meets Karin, a mysterious jazz pianist who seems to know more about him than she can know. Suddenly, mysterious deaths begin to pile up and Johannes tries to uncover the secret under the mountain.

“Kröger manages well with moments of pure cinema in between, and a particularly out-there moment of noise and mayhem which threatens to crush the film and the audience in an audiovisual avalanche.” ~ John Bleasdale, CineVue

Please visit our accessibility page for more information. Beyond the description, trailer and quoted reviews on our website, other sources of information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media and IMDb. We encourage you to research our films at your own informational interest level via the internet.
Original title
Die Theorie von Allemaka
Year
2023
Running time
118 min.
Country
Germany Germany
Director
Timm Kröger
Screenwriter
Roderick Warich, Timm Kröger
Cast
Music
Diego Ramos Rodriguez
Cinematography
Roland Stuprich (B&W)
Producer
Co-production Germany-Austria-Switzerland; Majade Fiction, The Barricades, Catpics Coproductions, Panama Film
Genre
Romance. Drama. Mystery | 1960s
Synopsis
Year 1962. Johannes Leinert, together with his doctoral advisor, travels to a physics congress in the Swiss Alps, where an Iranian scientist is set to reveal a 'groundbreaking theory of quantum mechanics'. But when the physicists arrive at the five star hotel, the Iranian guest is nowhere to be found.
As fun or scary as it is to ponder, we are likely not living inside the Matrix. But cinematically speaking, we are certainly living in a post-“The Matrix” world intoxicated by the possibility of a multiverse, as evidenced not just by noisy superhero fare and the Oscar-winning “Everything Everywhere All at Once” but also the more lush air of enchantment and doom pervading the German import “The Universal Theory.” Set against the ominous beauty of the Swiss Alps, the film is a post-WWII-set art thriller about a quantum physics wunderkind and a mysterious jazz pianist.

Call it blanc noir. Or hi-fi sci-fi. Or matinee fodder for the likes of Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrödinger. For sure, it’s a dreamy pastiche of the era’s moody, existential movies. Co-writer and director Timm Kröger effortlessly evokes the chilly unease of Antonioni, Welles and Tarkovsky while channeling plenty of Hitchcock vibes, mostly with an impressively full-blown orchestral score (by Diego Ramos Rodriguez) that could be a long-lost symphony of Bernard Herrmann’s. (Roland Stuprich’s black-and-white cinematography doesn’t hurt either.)

Kröger’s first scene is a cheesy ’70s talk show on which rattled-looking author Johannes (Jan Bülow) says his bestselling novel about parallel worlds isn’t fiction at all, a claim met with glib mockery from the host. We’re then transported to the monochrome widescreen of the early ’60s, when brainy, awkward PhD hopeful Johannes (looking much less splotchy) is working on his dissertation, traveling by train with his grumpy mentor Dr. Julius Strathen (Hanns Zischler) to a conference at a ski lodge.

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Johannes’ overseer is no fan of “metaphysical rubbish,” which is where the young man’s energies are directed, particularly toward the universal wave function that suggests the existence of multiple realities. At the hotel, Johannes finds a like-minded thinker in Strathen’s old rival, the bombastic Blumberg (Gottfried Breitfuss). But he is also drawn to a coolly beautiful, enigmatic musician, Karin (Olivia Ross), who improbably knows his deepest childhood secrets and likes to say things to Johannes like “Leave me alone” seconds before cooing, “Be careful” and kissing him.

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Something is genuinely off about the goings-on at the conference, from strange deaths and elevators that suddenly aren’t elevators, to a rash of scabby infections afflicting guests and the discovery of a subterranean tunnel. Not to mention, of course, the distinct possibility that no one is who they say they are. Or were. Or will be? (And you thought you had too many distractions when you were in school.)

You don’t need a master’s in wave-particle duality to enjoy the cosmic playground of coincidence and fate that Kröger has in mind. That being said, the director, a cinematographer making his feature debut, isn’t anywhere near David Lynch’s kind of subconscious-melting brilliance. “The Universal Theory” is overlong and ultimately a work more of the head than the heart, no matter how much that wall-to-wall throwback score swells with intention. The performances, too, are more likenesses than full characterizations, which, admittedly, is wholly in keeping with the perplexities being dramatized.

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Kröger is nevertheless a gifted stylist with the language and pacing of classical movies. He knows how to play with that familiarity of composition and narrative just enough to have us riding his plot all the way to the end, when he leaves snowy Switzerland for the rest of the story (which includes a “film” of Johannes’ book that makes this life-is-simulation-is-cinema cycle mischievously complete). All in all, it’s a timeline — or two — of incident, regret, memory and ghosts (and movie love) that wouldn’t feel out of place on a double bill with one of Lars von Trier’s early-career sandboxes such as 1991’s “Zentropa.” Nothing in “The Universal Theory” is going to blow your mind, but as it plays its fastidiously crafted notes of conspiracy and chaos, you’ll know the idiosyncrasies of the art house are alive and well.
Imagine that one of Hitchcock’s villains — say, the guy missing the tip of a pinkie in “The 39 Steps,” or the shrink who runs the institute in “Spellbound” — did not simply come from a place of murderous intent but from a different place altogether, perhaps another dimension. Imagine that villain’s supranatural malfeasance backdropped by jagged mountains, captured in black-and-white so crisp it could cut, and widescreen frames so wide whole Alpine ranges fit comfortably inside them. And imagine it all unfolding to a deliberately overpowering score, like Bernard Herrman and Scott Walker conceived a baby during a sonic boom. Now you are somewhere near Timm Kröger‘s superbly crafted “The Universal Theory” an overlong but enjoyable metaphysical thriller that delivers pastiche so meticulous it becomes its own source of supremely cinematic pleasure.

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It is 1962, in the mountainous Grisons canton of Switzerland. The Cold War is at its coldest, its influence extending across this neutral Mitteleuropean region like the thick snow that blankets the slopes. Avalanches are frequent. Storms even more so. Strange skidding cloud formations arc over the uncanny valley where a remote, creakily luxe hotel is playing host to a mysterious physics congress. Still in the throes of finishing his “esoteric” thesis, Johannes (Jan Bülow) has come along on the coat-tails of his crotchety supervisor, Dr. Strathen (Hanns Zischler), who brooks none of Johannes’ “speculative” nonsense about multiverses. “Shut up and calculate!” he barks, red-penning whole sections of Johannes’ work.

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The conference keeps getting postponed due to the no-show of its keynote speaker. But in the meantime Johannes has met Professor Blumberg (Gottfried Breitfuss), a jovial, rotund erstwhile Nobel nominee with whom Strathen has some ancient beef, and who immediately recognizes the revolutionary potential of Johannes’ theories. Or maybe that’s just the booze and LSD speaking. But by now Johannes has also encountered Karin (Olivia Ross) an enigmatic Frenchwoman who plays piano with the hotel’s jazz band, and around whom Johannes feels a strange déjà vu — accented wittily by composer Diego Ramos Rodríguez’s love theme, which echoes that of “Vertigo,” the ultimate tale of doubling and obsessive love. The fact that Karin can relate entire stories from Johannes’ childhood that he’s never told anyone does little to disavow him of the notion of their peculiar connection.

But in the mountains nearby (which are such characters here they almost seem to talk to each other on the soundtrack, showing the more thunderous side of Rodríguez’s multifaceted score) a pulsating light flickers deep with the warren of tunnels left over from the days of uranium mining. It must be somehow related to Karin’s disappearance. And to a strange accident involving two local kids. And to the sinister figures Johannes spots on the mountainside, after Blumberg is found dead in the snow. Very dead, in fact, which makes it very odd that he keeps showing up again, alive and intent on some nefarious purpose that Johannes cannot fathom.

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The actual solution of the “mystery” — or rather the nested set of mysteries — is rather simple, once one swallows the central speculative sci-fi aspect, which, with multiverse theory popping up in every second superhero blockbuster these days, it’s not hard to do. But then, the story, written by Kröger and Roderick Warich, feels like it’s been designed primarily to give free rein to an expansive visual imagination, rather than the other way round, like the narrative is simply a loop on which Kröger (himself sometimes a cinematographer) can team up with DP Roland Stuprich to hang a rich assortment of cinematic influences. It’s not just Hitchcock who is so ably evoked: The prologue is a terrifically well-achieved riff on 1980s TV in which Johannes, here a kind of Fassbinder figure complete with unhealthy pallor, scraggly facial hair and flopsweat, goes on a German talk show to promote his bestselling sci-fi novel. And the entire last chapter of the film unfolds as a quasi-homage to the French New Wave, with a drolly authoritative voiceover reporting on how Johannes’ life – marked forever by his quest to reunite with his lost love, Karin — will unfold, right up until the moment of his death.

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There is, perhaps, a slightly missed opportunity for a few more twists of the metaphysical knife in the plotting. However porous the membrane between various planes, we remain resolutely on this side of this one. But then, this is a movie that lives in its atmosphere rather than its story, and if we were skipping through other worlds, Kröger wouldn’t be able to make such evocative work of the history of this one. References to the early-’60s psychedelic experiment or to both the older physicists having Third Reich skeletons in their closets contribute to the sense of nuclear-age paranoia, which “The Universal Theory” imagines as the fear — ridiculous but strangely relatable — of inadvertently ending up stuck with the wrong version of yourself, living in the wrong universe.

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The Theory of Everything, Timm Kröger, Venice Film Festival